


Cornered

by SnowStormSkies



Series: Surrender [6]
Category: Tokio Hotel
Genre: Bondage, Bondage and Discipline, Character Development, Chastity Device, Corporal Punishment, Developing Relationship, Discipline, Dom/sub, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemas, Exploring Sexuality, Foursome - M/M/M/M, Kink Exploration, Kink Negotiation, M/M, Multi, Punishment, Subspace, learning the hard way
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-04
Updated: 2014-08-14
Packaged: 2018-01-07 12:08:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 50,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1119654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnowStormSkies/pseuds/SnowStormSkies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>This, Georg supposes, is their first time where Tom pushes those rules, bucking under the new reins that he’s been getting used to for a while now, needing to feel out boundaries and limits that are shiny, new, and untested. </i>
</p><p> </p><p> It's not going to be easy, and Georg is aware that this is the start of a marathon, not a sprint. But he's determined to win against Tom, to teach him that Georg, Gustav, and Bill are on top.</p><p> And Tom is not.</p><p> It starts with a fight over something so very small but Tom will learn. Georg is sure of that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is the beginning of the 'verse set up by Running Doesn't Change Anything, Cool Water, Against the Wall, Still Waters Run Deep, and Holding Back. Hope it fills in some of those blanks. It's all complete too :D Thanks to Casey270 for the beta!

**Into the Corner  
**

Georg scrubs his face.

Goddamnit, this is…

He’s never seen Tom like this. Seriously.

Normally, Tom strives for that _good boy_ label, trying his best to earn it. As much as he tries to be a bad ass, boasting about girls and shit, a tough guy with all the _swag,_ whatever the hell that is or whatever, he’s pretty good on a day to day basis.

Perhaps that’s because Tom has got everything covered by Georg, Bill, or Gustav usually – sex, food, kisses and cuddles, because Tom is a needy, touchy feely person who needs lots of personal contact and affection to get through the day – and because he seems to crave the praise, the rewards, the attention he receives by being good, but Georg thought that Tom _loved_ that label and wouldn’t want to risk it for anything.

But obviously, that was Georg being lulled into a false sense of security.

And Gustav and Bill too.

“ _You fucking cunt – fuck you, Georg – “_

It would be funny, Georg thinks, if Tom were about ten years younger, and seventy pounds lighter. Trying to drag a six year old into the corner would be difficult but not impossible, and Georg wouldn’t be panting and sweating because of it.

Now that Tom is sixteen, he’s a lot bigger and heavier, even if he looks like a _skinny_ fucker, and it’s like a fucking Herculean task. He’s got hard fists and quick feet, and even though Georg is thirty pounds heavier, and, like, two years in the gym stronger, it’s not an easy task to make Tom move in any direction, never mind towards the corner.

But Georg won’t give in.

And neither will Tom.

 “Georg – “

“Bill, be quiet.” Georg’s voice is clipped because he hasn’t got any more breath to waste – he’s trying to deal with Tom, who’s like a damn octopus, lashing out with arms that seem to multiply or something as he’s dragged through the living quarters of the studio towards the living room corner for what feels like the _hundredth_ time this afternoon.

Bill stands in the doorway into the kitchen, pressing his thumb to his lip, and he looks worried. He probably wants to reach out and hold Tom right now because that’s how Bill’s been dealing with Tom for the last ten weeks, but it’s not going to happen. Right now, Georg can’t worry about that. He’s got something more pressing to deal with. Namely, Tom.

Today is not Georg’s favourite day. At all.

It’s been ten  weeks of their new way of life for the band, and Georg thought it was going well.

It’s been ten  weeks since they introduced the rules for Tom, the ones that deal with his bad attitude, his laziness, and his physical needs like sex and touch love that were spiralling out of control. Ten whole weeks since they first started out with this whole dominance, submission thing that has meant that their own personal lives have been turned upside down.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way, Georg knows, because when they formed Devilish and then Tokio Hotel ,they were just friends, and he was happy with that. He liked it. There was fun, there was beer, and groupies, and Georg finally started to find his stride inside the sack as well as outside of it.

But then everything changed with Tom, and they had to shift their relationships into something new and strange to them all or risk losing it all.

And it was going to shit if they didn’t do something. Serious shit. The kind of shit that ended careers, and Georg was not about to do that. At all. Everything’s been poured into Tokio Hotel to make it work and nobody – not even Tom – was going to take that away from Georg. From everybody in the band.

Georg thought their plan was for the better.

For the last ten weeks, they’ve moved into a hierarchy of sorts, where Tom sits in the submissive role, and Georg, Gustav, and Bill stand in the dominant position, dishing out praise and punishment by turn, and it’s worked.

That’s basically it.

It sounds ridiculous but it’s _worked._

Seriously.

Tom’s been better – he doesn’t drink as much as he used to, he doesn’t smoke pot every other day now, he doesn’t retreat to the flop house near the twins’ house looking for sex with Zella because she’s always up for a tumble in the sheets, and it means that Tom doesn’t have to think when he’s with her.

Bill and Tom have been closer than ever, affirming that twin bond, and with the rules and the sex that’s happening as a result of the whole shift in their roles, even Georg and Gustav have been getting closer to Tom. Physically and emotionally.

Everything’s been weird. But it’s weird in a _good_ way, so far, and Georg _likes_ that.

Tom’s more friendly, less angry and vindictive in his words. He’s interested in video games again, and playing his guitar with Bill’s voice, and drawing, and doing all the old things he used to do with the rest of the band. He’s actually _there_ to practise their music which is also a massive plus, given that they’re in a _band_ and that’s how they all earn their money… He’s more like the old Tom that Georg signed up to be in this band with.

Not the angry, yelling, drinking, swearing stranger that he turned into over the last year.

But not every plan is perfect.

And this, he supposes, is their first time where Tom pushes those rules, bucking under the new reins that he’s been getting used to for a while now, needing to feel out boundaries and limits that are shiny and new and untested.

It’s probably a good thing it was against Georg, who knows his discipline shit, and can physically move Tom, unlike Bill, who’s like a goddamn twig and about as strong at the moment. It’s something Georg has been coaching him through because one day, Bill will have to step up, but he probably wouldn’t know what the fuck to do with Tom when he’s like this.

Gustav’s watching, though, and observing, and no doubt next time he’ll want to have a go.

“I don’t _want_ to go–” Tom’s lashing out, twisting like an eel again, even though Georg has him by one wrist and the back of his t-shirt. “ _Leave me alone!”_

Georg says nothing.

He dodges a fist to the chest, grabs Tom’s wrist, and forces it up behind Tom’s back - simple, classic restraint techniques, but they’re like a fucking godsend at times like this. He keeps his mouth shut. Rewarding Tom with words at the moment will just encourage him.

Tom _hates_ silence; that much Georg has learned over the last few months. He can live with people shouting at him, screaming at him to do stuff or stop doing shit, and he can most certainly live with people talking at him non-stop. He’s grown up with Bill, for God’s sake.

But he can’t hack silence.

He hates it when people don’t talk, when he’s left in silence, and there’s nothing to do but try to fill it with his own voice because Tom fucking hates the quiet for some reason.

So that’s what Georg will use it now to win this.

Tom objects to being forcibly restrained yet again, snarling at Georg like a dog, cursing everything from Georg’s mother to his dick, but Georg will not be letting him go until he’s back in the corner.

It’s amazing that Tom has held out for this long. And very stupid too.

All Tom needed to do was serve his sixteen minutes in the corner, and he could have been out and back playing X-box in no time at all – sixteen minutes kneeling or sitting in the corner, nose to the wall, thinking about what he did wrong, and then an apology to Georg, and that would have been _it._ No fucking more.

The first transgression – not one that earned him the original sixteen minutes – was slapping Georg’s hand away when he tried to tell Tom to come and help pack up the guitars in the practise room in the studio. That was it. A very simple task. And somehow, it’s escalated from a ten minute task into a ninety minute war that’s still going. When Tom slapped his hand away, he earned a warning, and then he graduated up to the corner by telling Georg to fuck off and then just turning back to the TV like nothing happened.

Georg does not _like_ being ignored. Especially not by Tom, who knows that being rude is against the rules, and unfair, and _not something he should be doing._

Georg gave him a warning; he didn’t listen,  so he got corner time. Sixteen minutes, as per the rules that they all – Georg, Gustav, Bill, _and Tom –_ agreed to. One minute for every year of his age, face first into a corner to think about what he did wrong.

But Tom didn’t fulfil his end of the bargain that he signed up to when he agreed to the rules. Instead of staying put in the corner, he walked away. Just… upped and left from where Georg left him in the corner of the living room.

Not fucking cool, Tom.

And when Georg put him back, he walked away again.

When Georg put him back for the third time, Tom walked away. For the third time.

Rinse and repeat, over and over.

And now, they’re on the seventeenth time – or is it twentieth? Georg lost count after the first half hour – and Tom is fighting tooth and fucking nail to not go in the fucking corner.

Georg dumps him into the corner, doesn’t even say a word to him because the _second_ he gets involved in a debate with Tom, that’s it. Everything’s lost. Tom wants a debate – he wants that because it means he can use his words to wind Georg up, start negotiating about punishment or whatever.

Tom doesn’t get to negotiate. He gets to do as he’s told.

End of story.

Georg retreats to the kitchen, grabbing a glass out of the cupboard and filling it from the tap. The cool water feels amazing as it slides down his throat, and Georg knows he’s been physically working out for most of the last hour. He’s tired, and if he was at the gym, he’d be ready to give in, but he’s not there, and he won’t.

Inside his head, Georg is counting the seconds to when Tom – and _there._

Tom’s bolted for the stairs, slipping and sliding on the wood floor in socked feet as he doesn’t even bother to try to keep it quiet, and Bill looks wide eyed at Georg. “What’s going to happen now?”

“He’s going back.”

Georg is determined to win this one – even though this is venturing down a route into child discipline, and it could go further, it’s also about consistency. Cause and effect and the fact that it doesn’t change – no matter who is disciplining him or where they are. It’s about being firm with Tom, and not allowing Tom to dictate the rules of behaviour.

Georg has given Tom a rule, Tom broke it, and there’s a consequence.

And that won’t change.

When Georg first discussed this with Medra and Chris, they looked at him askance. _Why not just spank him?_ They said, _why not strap him or cane him or use the hairbrush?_ and it was a legitimate question. But when Georg discussed it with Gustav and Bill, after that skype session, they came to the conclusion it wouldn’t work.

Tom can take pain. He’s proved he can – he clams up and pretends it doesn’t hurt, and he fight his way through it with words and fists. He _hates_ it, but he’ll take that kind of punishment. He’ll try to get out of it, but when it comes down to it, hitting Tom tells him that either he can hit back – which Georg is not willing to entertain – or that he has to endure rather than experience the punishment for what it’s worth, and connect the pain to learning.

Bill’s the same. It just makes the situation worse when hurting someone is the first response. Tom expects anger and hurt, so he fights back.

Georg is also increasingly aware that yes, **now** he could forcibly spank Tom. He could bend Tom over a chair or a bed and punish him that way, and Tom would get the message pretty damn quick.  Spanking Tom teaches him a lesson, which Georg likes. Now, Georg can physically manipulate Tom because he weighs thirty five pounds plus less than Georg, and he’s got about as much strength as a baby kitten compared to Georg’s body that’s been moulded by the gym and by plenty of good sex.

The question is: what happens when Tom is eighteen, twenty, twenty five?

If this is still going on then, how is Georg supposed to deal with Tom? He’s already standing an inch taller than Georg, and once he stops being a bean pole, getting Tom to do something though fighting won’t work because he’ll just be able to force Georg away.

And Georg _doesn’t want_ to be fighting Tom like this when Tom gets much older. That would just be sad, if he’s still fighting with Tom like that by the time he’s twenty five.

Thus, the corner.

Because putting someone in the corner is infinitely easier, in Georg’s opinion. He can drag Tom, and it doesn’t have to be elegant or perfect. It doesn’t have to be precise. It just has to be a corner and Tom, somehow connecting the two.  Tom will – hopefully, at least – learn to knuckle down to it, and he’ll will learn to accept the corner as the first step of punishment.

It will work because Tom hates silence and he hates being left alone with himself. He hates being made to stop, to sit still and to think about what he’s done because Tom is actually a _good boy_ inside, and realising that he’s been bad – and that there will be consequences – is something that he dreads.

Being in the corner makes Tom come back to himself – away from the screaming, angry, frustrated mess he was before.

There’s no one to fight at the end of the day.

He can run, he can protest, he can try to swing punches and scream and shout, but what does that achieve? He has to do his sixteen minutes in silence, on the chair or in the corner where his disciplinarian has placed him, and every time he gets up or screams at Georg it starts again.

Sixteen minutes on Georg’s phone – timed to the SECOND.

So far, this is the record. Forty nine minutes, and they’re still going strong.

Georg wipes his hair out of his face, reties the band in his ponytail, and sighs.

_Off they go again._

Georg finds Tom in Bill’s bedroom, obviously trying to outwit Georg as he lounges on Bill’s bed instead of his own. But Georg doesn’t say anything; he just grabs Tom’s arm, and pulls him along after him.

Back downstairs they go.

Tom snarls and swears at Georg’s back as he’s forcibly made to return to the living room corner, for what feels like the hundredth time today. He’s all piss and vinegar, and it doesn’t seem to be running out anytime soon as Georg feels another palm flat between his shoulder blades.

Tom’s not punching him, for which Georg is grateful, because a direct hit to the kidneys would be agony now but he’s obviously trying to get away which Georg does _not_ like.

It’s a never ending saga.

He’s tried running to his bedroom, tried running into the garden, tried screaming at Georg over the kitchen table because he _wouldn’t fucking go to the damn corner, so Georg can shut the fuck up, okay!_

 Tom’s slammed doors, kicked chairs over, even tried running for the front door, and wasn’t that a fucking moment of terror for Georg, because if Tom got outside, no doubt some asshole would film it, and that would…would not be good. At all.

This is private; this is something for the four of them. It’s not a dirty, forbidden secret, but it’s theirs. It belongs to all four of them, and not to the outside out world. Georg knows, hand on heart, Tom would be absolutely humiliated and distraught to see himself being disciplined on the nine o’clock news or something.

But all this fighting and this fear is concerning for Georg, and it’s…

It’s a huge overreaction. He’s had stronger punishments before – even spankings, for God’s sake, and he’s never responded like this before. It’s… odd. Georg resolves to dig deeper and find out more later on because maybe it’s something they have to discuss as a group.

It’s frustrating that Georg doesn’t know, because he hates not knowing – not _understanding_ especially, but right now, his focus is getting Tom back into the corner and making him do his time.

 “Are you okay, Georg?” Gustav leans into the living room from the hall, looking a little concerned as Georg literally drags Tom back to the corner, not even saying a word to him as he pushes Tom across the carpet.

“Fine.” Georg grunts, sits Tom down in the corner, doesn’t even _look_ at him as he walks away. He knows that in ten seconds, he’ll be escaping again, but Georg won’t give him the satisfaction of turning it into a game of chase.

But he will be winning this war between him and Tom.

He fucking _will._

\--

“ _Fuck you, you fucking cunt bastard motherfucking prick –“_

It’s impressive. Georg never knew how awesome Tom’s swearing vocabulary was until now, but it’s apparently _very big._

Not that it’s doing much to help his situation. Georg has him pinned on the floor, holding Tom face first on the wood until Gustav comes back with the cuffs, and there’s nothing that will move Georg now.

Five minutes ago, he made that executive decision to finish this fight between him and Tom because it spiralled way out of control.

Even more than it was before.

It may have started over a corner time, but Georg has seen it kind of explode as Tom became more and more frustrated with the lack of results his rebellion was getting him. He wound himself up more and more, over something so simple, and it just…wasn’t happening.

An hour and a fifteen minutes later, and Tom had yet to serve his sixteen minutes.

The last time Georg had dumped Tom back in the corner, he’d been quiet, remaining where Georg had left him for the entire time it took for Georg to make his way towards the kitchen. It had been progress, in Georg’s opinion.

Ha.

But while Georg was hoping that Tom had worn himself out, he’d been rudely disabused of that notion.

 Tom had been waiting for Georg to leave the living room, had been waiting for him to start talking to Gustav, and then he’d bolted straight for the door. Sliding out of the room and nearly colliding with the door frame, Tom ran like a frightened rabbit through the house, feet pounding on the stairs because he didn’t even _try_ to keep quiet. Georg let him run for a few seconds, needing a moment to catch himself and to breathe again, because it had been turning into one _hell_ of a workout.

But when Georg came to find him, that was when Tom lost it completely.

Georg found him in the main bathroom on the top floor, having run out of places to hide. Georg had pulled him out of the bedrooms, out of the upstairs living area, and even out of the coat closet on the first floor, so obviously Tom was running out of options.

Except the final one.

Once Tom saw Georg, he started picking up ammunition, and it wasn’t fucking funny anymore. Tom, unlike Bill, is a crack shot when it comes to chucking things at people and Georg did not want anything to the face today. Tom even threw the mug from the bathroom, the toothbrush cup, at Georg – thank fuck it wasn’t glass –as a distraction tactic then tried to lock the door in Georg’s face.

That was the point where Georg decided that it wasn’t going any further. He wasn’t going to let Tom win this one.

It wasn’t just because if Tom _had_ managed to get the bathroom door shut on Georg, nothing short of a bomb blast would get through the inch thick wooden door. Georg would have had to wait for Tom to come out on his own at that point, or decide to go and get some power tools. It wasn’t just because Tom was refusing his punishment or because he was unhappy about the punishment – that much Georg could cope with.

It wouldn’t have been this fucking difficult if that was the reason  Tom was fighting.

It was because Tom was fighting tooth and nail against him as though Georg were trying to bend him over, spank him raw, or strap him… or hurt him in another way. It was because he was absolutely refusing to come down or out form that strange place when he was stuck, raging against Georg, fighting against him with every little thing he had to give.

Not that Georg _won’t_ spank him anyway, but … yeah.

It was the fucking corner, not a goddamn execution.

Georg made the decision to restrain Tom as soon as he got one shoulder into the bathroom, forcing the door back with sheer strength of will. He was lucky that Tom’s a skinny fuck, because he was damn close to losing. Put it this way, if he had been fighting Gustav, Georg would not have won that one.

He got into the bathroom by shoving hard, and he felt the moment when Tom gave up trying to keep the door shut on him because it suddenly flew open. But when Georg got into the bathroom properly, he found Tom was getting more and more wound up instead of calming down, and it had to stop before something very bad happened. Georg had to be the one to break that cycle of frustration and rebellion because he was the one in control, not Tom.

So he dragged Tom, kicking and punching as he screamed blue murder, into Georg’s own bedroom and forced him to the floor through sheer bloody strength of mind over body. Tom kicked, howled, threw punches and damn well nearly twisted himself into a pretzel before Georg got him flat on the floor, but he didn’t win.

And Georg’s decision was clear. 

He made the decision to cuff Tom, to physically restrain him to stop him from fighting back, and even though Tom was still kicking off, practically foaming at the mouth, Georg was ready to deal with it properly.

On the way out of the bathroom, he told Gustav to go and get some restraints out of Georg’s cupboard because he was occupied with Tom. Occupied being the understatement of the fucking year.

“Here.” Gustav shut the wardrobe door having obviously found the appropriate ones he was looking for.  He holds out several sets of restraints, and Georg was pleased with his choices.

Gustav _likes_ restraints: cuffs, harnesses, leg straps, chains, ropes… he’s been getting good at it, digging through Georg’s collection, asking a ton of questions and wanting demos, and even shopping for his own on the internet, and Georg was surprised at his enthusiasm for the subject.

It was probably a control thing, and Georg rather suspected that Tom would have to get used to being trussed up in a variety of ways.

But hey. Each to their own, and Georg’s own toy collection is nothing to sneeze at.

Georg knew Gustav would bring back something good from Georg’s collection of chains, cuffs, and straps, and he wasn’t disappointed.

Georg starts with Tom’s wrists.

It doesn’t take long to buckle the cuffs in place, even though Tom’s lashing out, shouting and demanding freedom as Georg threads the excess of the straps through the loops, tests the chains to make sure that they’ll hold strong. They’re tough cuffs, designed to withstand assault on them by someone three times Tom’s weight, so he won’t be going anywhere yet.

From there, it’s somewhat easier to move onto the leg straps, and Georg doesn’t even bother with stripping Tom’s jeans off.  Georg has spent far too much time learning about this but he knows this is the kind of restraint system the police use – it’s quick, easy, and can be done over clothes or while nude. The bright yellow straps made of tough material just goes straight over Tom’s xxxl jeans, the double layers of Velcro locking tight around Tom’s knees, ankles, and as a final, finishing touch, his thighs.

He’s not going anywhere now.

 “ _Fuck you, you motherfucking bastard. I hate you and all your fucking rules…”_

But no gag.

Damnit.


	2. Chapter 2

 

**Resistance and Retreat**

 

Georg watches from the bed, keeping a close eye on Tom even though he’s trying to create distance between them.

Separating himself and Tom is important now – when Georg was up close and personal with Tom it gave him something to fight against, something to resist because Georg was there, up in his face and making him have to fight and struggle. Now that Georg is six feet away sitting on the foot of his bed, and Tom’s left out as an island in the middle of the floor, it’s much much harder for Tom to fight.

He’s no longer lashing out, fighting against the cuffs that keep his wrists securely locked behind him, his legs secured at ankle, knee and thigh with all he’s got. He tried – God, did he try – kicking and twisting as though it would help, and Georg had to drag him away from the bed before he smacked his head on the hard side.

Georg almost went for a hogtie, tying Tom’s wrist cuffs to the ankle strap and leaving Tom bound up in like an American pretzel. Then again, he thought with the way Tom was behaving, that might not have been good for his safety. Georg has been taught about positional asphyxia by Medra. It’s where the way a person is restrained can affect their ability to breathe, and that… is not good. The kind of not good that is permanent, and dangerous. It might not happen, but it wouldn’t be safe to test that approach while Tom was so determined to get away.

Instead, Georg has left Tom on his side; ankles and wrists bound but separately, and is keeping a close eye on Tom to make sure that he keeps breathing.

So far, Tom’s fine. Pissed off, and unhappy in the extreme, but physically fine.

Georg’s using all those lessons and hours of practise he went through with Medra and Chris, learning how to discipline, how to control and praise and reward and punish someone submissive, and how he got into that word is a very long story, but he wouldn’t leave now for anything.

But he’s got to be in control of this, that’s the thing he keeps reminding himself, so even though seeing Tom tied up, even though the mere act of putting on the cuffs was enough to wake up the part of Georg that likes sex and bondage, he doesn’t react with his dick.

Tom’s in need of something else from him right now.

Georg considers Gustav’s choice of restraints – Medra has been working with Gustav a lot on different things, and he’s always leaned more towards the colder, industrial stuff before. Big metal chains and cuffs, rope, that kind of thing.

But maybe he’s changing. Metal and chain looks good, but for someone as sensitive as Tom, it might not be so fun to actually wear. It’s also really heavy, and for long periods of time, it can be really uncomfortable. The fact that Gustav is starting to learn to choose between what he wants and what Tom would feel better in is a big step in the right direction.

Georg has tried all the different kind of restraints, so he’s kind of aware of how Tom feels.

He always tries everything in his collections out, because if he’s supposed to treat a partner or make them feel good (or not, as the case may be), how can he do that without knowing exactly what they should be feeling?

He tests everything from toys, blindfolds, clothes, to restraints.

And he really rather enjoys the former.

Georg could have also gone for serious cuffs and chains, getting Gustav to bring back something much more complicated, but Georg has learnt the value of simplicity when it comes to the restraint systems he uses on a regular basis. Tom’s just restrained with the leg straps and the wrist cuffs behind him, thrashing around the floor but unable to even get up or to release himself, and the only way to fight back became his words.

He went for it for a while, bellowing and shouting like a crazy person, swearing up a storm until he ran out of words, ran out of energy. It didn’t stop immediately but over the last fifteen minutes, Tom’s tantrum has kind of … petered out to nothing.

Now, Tom’s quiet. And Georg is pleased.

During the last fifteen minutes, Georg took a little time for himself too. Georg has had a drink, changed his t-shirt, and used the break in fighting to rest a little after the exertions of the last few hours. It’s not just physically exhausting to discipline someone like that – it’s mentally wearing too. Georg has to self-care too, to make sure that he’s able to deal with Tom in the best possible way, and not react with frustration or annoyance.

Tom sighs on the floor, and Georg eyes him carefully.

Georg has kept his silence through all of it – the swearing, the insults, the threats of violence and pain that he knows Tom won’t follow up on. Tom’s a lot of things, but genuinely violent… not really.

So it’s more bravado and frustration rather than promises that guided Tom’s words.

Gradually, Tom has grown quiet, panting heavily, his face turned away from Georg as he lies on the wooden floor, the sweat patch in the middle of his back growing bigger and darker by the minute.

But he’s forgotten about the floor to ceiling mirror on the wall – Georg can see everything on Tom’s face that he thinks is hidden.

Everything from the way his lower lip is being bitten to the way his brow is furrowed tight tells Georg that Tom is finally back in the room and thinking about what he did. Georg sees the way Tom’s face is slowly fading from the angry red it was before, turning blotchy and pink instead.

“Georg?”

That’s what Georg was waiting for.

“Tom.” He doesn’t ask any more questions, just lets his voice acknowledge that he heard Tom calling his name.

“I…I’m…” Tom stutters over the words, and Georg doesn’t try to rush him. This is Tom’s own choice; choosing to apologise or not is something he has to pick, and Georg can’t demand it or rush Tom through it. “Oh, God…”

He’s probably becoming aware of how much trouble he’s in after his hours of protesting and tantruming and failing to knuckle down, but Georg doesn’t comment on that.

He keeps it simple. “I’m here, Tom.” Georg doesn’t move closer.

“I’m… Fuck, I’m s-sorry, Geo.” Tom’s calling him Geo, an old habit. Georg doesn’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing, and he’d like to dig more into that.

But Tom’s apologised. And that’s what Georg needs to focus on now.

He stands up from the bed, crossing the bedroom to kneel beside Tom, not quite touching him yet but rewarding the apology with his closeness. “Why are you sorry?”

This much Georg has been clear on when they were drawing up the rules – him, Gustav and Bill, all those ten weeks ago. An apology can’t just be I’m sorry from Tom because it doesn’t show understanding. If Tom learns that all he has to do is say two words, and then he gets off scot-free, it’s not really an apology. It’s two words that mean nothing. Georg wants Tom to understand what he did wrong, that what he said or did offended and hurt someone. And so, the why part of the apology was created. Tom has to articulate why he’s sorry and mean it.

“Oh, come on,” Tom huffs, dropping his head onto the wood floor. He obviously hoped that the apology would be enough on its own but Georg shrugs.

“Either tell me why, or you can stay like that for another ten minutes, Tom.” He’s willing to wait – the only thing he has to do today is put away the guitars in the studio, and that’s not difficult.

The middle finger Tom sticks up at him tells Georg far more than the “Pass, thanks,” Tom says under his breath.

Fine.

Ten minutes it is.

\--

Georg turns another page of his motorbike magazine, keeping one eye on Tom in the mirror, the other one on the amazing deconstructed engine of a vintage WWII bike article. It’s awesome.

He wishes he had the time to do that kind of thing for a living.

Being a full time professional bassist is something that Georg loves, and Tokio Hotel is carved into him through years and years of practise and dedication, but he really fucking likes bikes too.  
It would be a less stressful career, that’s for sure.

It’s been nineteen minutes since Tom refused to explain why he was sorry. Georg went back at ten minutes, tried to get another explanation, but Tom wasn’t having it. He swore at Georg, told Georg to let him go now or he’d kick off again. And that was a fucking promise, Tom said, and Georg saw the determination in his eyes.

Not that he would get away with kicking off, but Georg wasn’t concerned. Not a lot that Tom could do, tied up as he was.

So he got another ten minutes of hanging around on the floor, trussed up and unable to move, and Georg went back to reading his magazine.

Tom tried to get free again – bucking up against the leg restraints, trying to turn over to kneel up so he could bunny hop out of the room, but Georg was not having that. Before Tom could even get a few inches off the floor, Georg was there, gently kicking his legs out from under him, dragging Tom back to the middle of the floor. Then he went back to his magazine. He didn’t even say anything, but he knew that Tom got the message loud and clear.

_Stay down. You move when I say you can. You are not in control._

Since then, Tom’s been silent. And fuming.

Georg is patient. He can wait.

There are footsteps in the hall outside, and Georg lowers his magazine, wondering who the fuck it is.

“Georg?”

It’s not Tom who asked the question – it’s Bill. He’s leaning into Georg’s bedroom, looking a little nervous.

“Bill!”

“Quiet, Tom,” Georg raps out, ignoring the middle finger Tom projects in his direction by way of a reply. “That includes flipping the bird, Tom.”

“I hate you.” Oh, Tom sounds _pissed_. But it’s more petulant two year old than he probably intended, and Georg says nothing. “I hate you!” Tom tries again, obviously trying to goad a response from Georg, but again, he says nothing. “Say something, you fucking dick! I hate you!”

“Georg?” Bill looks more and more uncomfortable, so Georg makes the decision to move this away from Tom since he doesn’t seem willing to control himself. He’s desperate for something to happen to confirm his anger, to validate his feelings that Georg is a toss pot, but there’ll be nothing coming from Georg.

“One moment, Tom.” Georg drops the magazine on the bed, moves towards the door, waving Bill backwards.

He doesn’t want Tom to listen in to whatever Bill has to say. He can wait for Georg to come back.

“What’s up, Bill?” Georg shuts the bedroom door behind himself, turns to face Bill properly.

“I’m… is everything okay? In there?” Bill points towards Georg’s room, and his nail polish is chipped. It looks like he’s been biting his nails again.

“Everything’s fine,” Georg shrugs. “I’m just waiting on an apology now.”

“Oh.”

Bill’s the newest of the top level of the hierarchy. Georg has been actively interested and participating in the world of chains and yes, sir and everything else for well over a year, and he was reading, visiting chatrooms and things long before that. Gustav’s about the same in level of interest – maybe a year behind Georg in terms of how long he’s actually been involved in actively learning, but it’s all relative.

Until ten weeks ago both the twins had no idea that a lifestyle like the one they’re in now could even exist.

But Bill’s been pretty good with it so far, happy to be in control of Tom – a little too happy sometimes . He’s also over the moon because it means that he and Tom are close again, and Tom’s finally pulled his head out of his ass and is a loving, caring brother again.

Maybe more.

Those late night discussions between the three of them are giving some interesting feedback, and Georg is sure that something in the twins’ relationship will shift again soon.

But Bill’s mostly been good with the new rules and discipline system in place until now. Then again, he’s not done any punishing yet. Only praising and rewards.

So maybe that’s what made him so confused and slightly scared.

“Is Tom okay?” Bill bites his lip, the crease between his eyebrows is back, and it tells Georg that he’s concerned.

“Tom’s fine, Bill. It’s just the first time he’s rebelled seriously, so it’s going to be a bit of a learning curve.” For all of them – not just Tom. Georg has had to start using those lessons with Chris now, and they still don’t feel quite second nature to him yet.

“But…”

“It’s going to be fine, Bill. I’ll make sure of it.”

He will.

\--

Bill’s gone now, and Georg is back in his room. It wasn’t a happy parting; Bill’s not happy, and he doesn’t seem to be appeased by Georg’s reassurances, but there’s not much Georg can do to change that. His word that he would make sure that Tom would be okay didn’t seem to do very much, but that’s Bill’s issue right now.

There will need to be a debriefing tonight between Georg, Bill, and probably Gustav too, to work out what happened today and how they all feel about it. Even though Georg has been the one to punish Tom, they’ve all seen it, and no doubt it will have affected the other two in different ways too.

Having all four of them working together means that they’ve had to make a lot of things very formal. Where other people, in pairs or singularly with a single sub, could just go on gut instinct or do things very fluidly, Georg, Bill, Gustav and Tom have to work at things.

Having formal, official debriefing sessions after something like this – the whole fight and punishment thing that Tom’s focusing on at the moment – means that they can break things down, talk it over, use their new skills and knowledge to try to get to a solution that they can all cope with.

Also, they need to talk in order to think about how they’d tackle this if it came up again, discussing what worked and what didn’t in dealing with Tom’s outburst of anger and frustration, but that’s for later on tonight.

It’s hard because they’re all so different, Georg, Bill and Gustav.

Gustav is very strict, and he has high expectations, which can be difficult for Tom. He wants Tom to rise up for his challenge, whereas Tom prefers to coast along a lot of the time. He’s also very inflexible, which can be difficult coming up against someone like Tom, who requires the person leading him to be able to switch gears very quickly, moving between plans without a second thought. That’s Gustav’s biggest problem – he works by rote and gets frustrated when that no longer works.

Bill’s just plain new at it. Nervous, not quite authoritative enough at the moment, and Tom senses the weakness. While he’d never use it against Bill for malicious purposes, Georg knows that Tom has already sussed that he can push Bill further, that Bill’ll be easier to convince to let Tom stay up later or whatever than Georg or Gustav would be. It’ll come – with time and effort and a lot of work, it’ll come, and Georg is confident that Bill isn’t a total pushover underneath the pretty exterior.

Georg knows that he, himself, is not perfect. He’s a lot lazy at times, which means he has to push himself to discipline Tom, unlike Gustav, who would jump on Tom for the smallest thing. He’s also very evidence based, which means gut instinct, which is very important in this kind of thing, is tough to give faith to.

But, things are changing, and Georg is going to learn, and so is everybody else.

Now, Georg has Tom himself to deal with.

He hadn’t moved while Georg was out of the room, still lying on the floor, his face towards the mirror.

Georg would go and pick up the magazine, but Tom sighs, long and loud, when Georg has shut the door.

His whole posture has changed. He’s not tensed up, shoulders raised up and his arms braced as though he could get out of the cuffs through sheer strength of will alone. Now, he’s limp and not fighting at all. The chain between his cuffs is slack, and Georg can see the leg straps aren’t straining to hold Tom tight.

He’s given in, by the looks of it.

“Georg?” His voice breaks right in the middle of that word, and he swallows, tries again. “Georg?”

“Yes, Tom?” Georg leaves the magazine on the duvet, goes to squat beside Tom instead. He still doesn’t touch him at all, waiting for the all-important apology and explanation, but it lets Tom know he’s listening and ready to hear whatever he has to say.

“I’m sorry…”

“Okay. Why are you sorry?” Georg keeps his voice calm and without sarcasm, watching Tom in the mirror as he bites his lip before speaking. Apparently, Tom is calm enough to acknowledge his faults now.

“Because…” Tom sighs, and Georg watches him close his eyes in the mirror, shame spreading across his face. “I’m sorry for shouting. For hitting you.”

“What else?”

“For not doing as I was told.” Tom is this close to crying, Georg senses, but he doesn’t do anything yet, even though all he wants to do is touch Tom. “For being rude to you. Telling you I hated you.”

“And?”

“For not accepting the punishment.” Georg wants Tom to acknowledge that specifically. It wasn’t just random hitting or swearing. It was defiance of Georg’s punishment for Tom, and that’s a separate offense.

“Thank you, Tom.” Georg accepts the apology. He won’t go over it, hash out individual offenses that Tom’s committed today, but his apology covers most of it. And it shows that Tom understands what he did was wrong, and that he accepts it.

He reaches out to touch Tom’s shoulder.

And Tom bursts into tears.

Georg doesn’t try to comfort Tom during his crying jag, doesn’t try to hold him tight or rock him or anything else even though he’d very much like to. That feeds into the confusion though, because hugs and kisses and rocking means forgiveness, and they’re always given at the end of punishment and discussion. Giving them now would confuse the fuck out of Tom.

Tom has apologised, and Georg appreciates that. Really. He does, a lot because he knows how hard it is for Tom to apologise when he’s been taught all his life that apologies mean weakness.

But there’s a process and Georg follows it through – getting the apology, letting Tom cry, discussing things, and then hugs and kisses (or just hugs. Either or) – because it means that everybody learns, and they can come to a resolution, rather than making it murky and instinctive. Tom doesn’t cope with that.

Tom needs to cry it out, and all Georg allows himself to do is to stroke down Tom’s side, allowing Tom to feel someone close to him without interfering with his tears or emotional shifts.

Maybe it’s a Tom thing, maybe it’s a punishment thing, but what Georg has learnt over the last few months is that Tom needs to cry after he’s been in the corner, or after a spanking. Not so much from pain, but it’s like a release of tension or frustration.

It had been strange to discover it all those weeks ago, learning that far being able to hold everything tight inside all the time, Tom was actually a crier when he was stressed or nervous and someone made him let it go. It’s not huge bawling sobs or loud sniffling or whatever else, but it can get Georg right in the chest, the way that Tom sobs and sobs, and sounds absolutely distraught and heartbroken when he’s coming down from a punishment or being made to _stop_ by being restrained.

Crying is a common method for relief for some subs, Medra’s taught Georg that, and it’s not hard to deal with. It just takes time.

Georg waits beside Tom, letting him cry out the pain and the stress. It’s not pretty, and it’s not easy to listen to but Georg understands that this is part of Tom’s way of processing, and so he gives him that.

He just waits it out.

\--

“Are you ready to sit up?”

Tom’s almost finishing crying, the last few tears sliding down his cheeks as he shudders and struggles to breathe normally. Georg rests his hand on Tom’s chest, using the warmth and weight of his hand to reassure Tom. It’s been fifteen minutes since Tom burst into tears but Georg hasn’t moved. He just keeps his hand on Tom's chest to comfort him, reassure him that Georg is beside him and not going anywhere.

It works.

Tom nods rather than speaks, but Georg lets it go. He has other things to focus on now.

“You can keep the wrist cuffs on for now, okay?” he says, pulling on the chain between the two leather cuffs behind Tom, hearing it clink softly.

“No – “ Tom starts to object, trying to sit up to be on an even playing field with Georg but that won’t fly.

Georg pushes him down, stops him from sitting up. He has to wait until Georg’s ready, and it doesn’t take him long to get the message. A hand on your head and another one on your chest will do that for you, Georg suppose, and Tom subsides quickly. It’s up to _Georg_ when Tom does anything, and that includes moving.

“Remember who’s in charge here, Tom. I’ll take your leg straps off, though.”

“’kay.” Tom sighs again.

He’s got be flat on his back again, pulled there gently before Georg gets to work. It doesn’t take long to peel off the Velcro, pulling the lengths of neon yellow strapping away until they come free from Tom’s body completely.

He sighs when the last one is undone, straightening his legs with a moan of pleasured pain.

“God, I hurt.”

He probably does hurt. Georg knows that, because Tom’s been trussed up on a hard, wood floor for the last… oh, hour, give or take a few minutes, maybe? And even though it doesn’t seem very long, Georg knows it can seem like forever. Before that he was fighting and punching, and that wasn’t exactly restful activity, so no wonder he hurts.

“Do you feel able to sit up?”

“No.” Tom rolls his eyes and Georg raises an eyebrow. “Yes.” That was a quick change of mind.

“Come here, Tom.” Georg lifts him upright, helping him to sit rather than slump over on his side or back on the floor, leaving Tom braced against the foot of Georg’s bed. He ignores the hisses of pain as Tom’s legs struggle to co-operate and the fact that he basically had to carry Tom through the process. “Better?”

Tom slumps against the wooden footboard, and he looks up at Georg through his lashes. “What do you think?” He snaps back, but he’s obviously watching for a reaction to Georg.

“I think you need to watch your mouth unless would you like more time added onto your punishment.” Georg sends back the biting words in a calm, even tone, and Tom clams up.

Hard.

“Better.”

They sit there for a while, Georg cross legged on the floor in front of the still chained up Tom who’s just trying to bend his legs and not wince in pain. Georg doesn’t say anything because he wants Tom to start talking on his own.

It doesn’t take long. Silence gets to Tom like nothing else.

“I’m sorry.” He mumbles.

“I know you are.” Georg inclines his head. “And I’m happy that you apologised. It’s important to me.”

“But…?” Tom sighs. He knows what’s coming.

_The breakdown of what happened_. Talking about what he did wrong. Working through it. Georg wants Tom to think about his own behaviour because Tom actively avoids doing that normally.

“I want to know why you kicked off like that.” Georg spreads his hands, and shrugs. “Because that-“

“Wasn’t cool?”

“Don’t interrupt, Tom.”

“Sorry.”

Georg accepts the latest apology with a nod, “It wasn’t. You lost control, didn’t you?”

“Yeah.” Tom draws up his knees, seems to sink lower into the floor if that were possible. “I did.”

“Can you tell me about that?” Georg knows that for Tom it can be hard to dig around inside of his emotions, examining what happened before after the fact because he feels embarrassed or confused about it. But he’d like to know – both for his own peace of mind, and because they might need to change how they approach corner time or something else.

Georg does not want to experience that again. Ever.

“I dunno.” Tom shrugs. “I just… got mad.”

“Why?”

“You were pissing me off.” Georg laughs, because that was the understatement of the century but Tom continues. “I was pissing me off.”

“Go on.”

“I knew – like, really fucking _knew_ ¬– all it had to be was the corner, right?” Tom looks for Georg to nod before he continues. “I knew it. But at the same time, I didn’t want to know it, and I kept…it got bigger. Like, the more I fought you the worse that corner got.”

“So you were stuck in that cycle?”

“Kind of.” But Tom’s nodding and Georg considers what Tom is telling him carefully. “I felt like if I came down it would be worse than keeping on fighting. Even t-though I knew I wouldn’t win.”

“You knew that?”

“Yes.” Tom looks Georg dead in the eye. “I knew it wasn’t going to happen because you were, right there, and you didn’t give in. At all.”

“What made you turn to throwing stuff at me?” That had been a new behaviour – Tom regularly avoids punishment by trying to leave the room and shouting isn’t uncommon, either. But throwing something – that’s both new and way out of line. Deliberately trying to hurt someone else, that kind of shit isn’t cool.

“I wanted you to go away.” Tom huffs, and tries to wipe his eyes on his shoulder. “I just… It was there. I was angry. You weren’t saying anything and I was getting more and more angry at you… so I threw it.”

“I see.”

“I knew it was a bad idea.” Tom looks distinctly ashamed of himself, and Georg doesn’t blame him. “As soon as I did it, I knew it was a shitty thing to do.”

“But you did it anyway.” Georg could have been hurt – in their line of work, even a small scratch or scar causes management to lose their shit, and it’s not okay that Tom deliberately tried to hurt him.

But Georg can understand where he was coming from. He felt trapped, desperate, and he reacted.

It’s interesting and definitely worth digging into again, later on. Perhaps tonight, before bed. Georg taps his chin as he muses on what Tom’s told him. “I think we’re going to move on now,” He decides, and Tom sighs. “But we’ll come back to it later. When everything’s calmer and less recent.”

“’Kay.” Tom nods, and Georg can tell by the changing of his expression that he knows that his punishment is now imminent. “What’s going to h-happen now?” Tom doesn’t look at Georg anymore, choosing to look at his lap, and that’s probably a bit of shame and a bit of fear of what’s going to happen next.

“Right now?” Georg moves a bit closer to Tom and reaches out to lift his chin up. He doesn’t want Tom talking to the floor, he wants him talking to Georg. “Look at me when you talk to me.”

“Sorry.” Tom’s going to be apologising a _lot_ for the rest of the day but Georg chooses not to focus on it at the moment.

“Right now, you’re going to do your sixteen minutes in the corner – “

“Are you serious?!”

“Yes.” Georg doesn’t smile at Tom’s look of incredulous surprise. “You never actually did your time, so you’re going to do that – to the second.” Tom almost pouts at that response, but Georg puts his finger to Tom’s lips, and he stops. “And then you’re going to come with me and tidy up the guitars in the studio.”

“Yes, Georg.” Tom looks thoroughly unimpressed with that plan, but he agrees to it without further protests.

“And then you’re going to have dinner with the rest of us since it’s Gustav’s turn to cook. Without dessert though. And then you’re going to bed.”

“It’ll only be about seven o’clock, Georg!”

Early bedtime is one of the things that Georg deliberately introduced for Tom during punishment – it was never an organic development. It doesn’t mean that Tom gets to just sit in his bedroom, playing video games and shit from seven o’clock onwards – it means that he gets dinner between five and six, hustled through the shower and teeth cleaning by Bill between six and seven, and lights out by seven on the dot. No electronics, no laptop, no TV. Everything is brisk, calm, and without fuss, moving around Tom without issue or difficulty.

“Yep.” Tom hates that part of punishment because he’s used to staying up till the early hours and sleeping in until early afternoon. But tonight, he’s going to bed long before he’s used to, while Georg and Gustav and Bill have their discussion.

Punishing Tom by taking away his _time_ is as valuable as punishing him by giving him a spanking or a strapping.

“Blergh.” Tom sounds about enthused about the plan as Georg thought he would, but there’s nothing to be done. Georg won’t budge, and Tom knows it.

“But before all of that, you can have something else.”

“Wha – oh.” Judging by the look on Tom’s face, he knows exactly what’s coming.

“You can have a red card.” Georg fishes the little red piece of laminated card out of his pocket, shows it to Tom. “Tell me what it means.”

Tom is slowly turning the same colour as the card, and he struggles to get any words out. “Oh _God_.”

Georg figured this kind of reaction would happen – Tom still struggles with the other coloured cards because they’re a physical representation of the rules. Even when he gets a blue card or a green one, it’s hard for him because it makes the rules – something that Tom mostly carries around in his head and can’t touch – into something _real_ and _touchable._ It makes the punishment or praise connect to their relationship and reality, which is tough for Tom to process.

“You can tell me.” Georg waits patiently for Tom to look at him.

“Nrgh.” But Tom isn’t interested in talking and he definitely isn’t interested in looking at Georg. He’s flame red, staring down at his lap, and Georg knows if he had his hands free, Tom would be clutching his t-shirt for reassurance. Georg sighs. He moves the card back into Tom’s line of sight.

“Tell me, Tom.” Georg doesn’t take the card away; he just leaves it there in Tom’s eye line, waiting for the correct response. “It’s not going away, Tom. You need to talk me.”

Tom does not want to talk, that much is clear but Georg gets his way. In the end, as he knew he would.

It takes Tom several tries to get the _looong_ list of restrictions and punishments started. “No dessert.”

“How long for?” Georg wants Tom to say it properly.

“No dessert _for four weeks_. No clubbing for four weeks. I get …” Tom closes his eyes, tips his head back, “ **Babysat** for four weeks… And… and…A s-s-spanking twice a week.” Getting past that is just one of the two parts of his punishment that Tom will come to hate, and Georg won’t let him go without saying it. “Co-collar and chain time…”

Babysitting is the worst part of the punishment in Georg’s opinion. Whereas, normally, Tom is free to choose what he wants to do, what he wants to eat or watch on TV, that’s not the case when he gets babysat. Everything about his life becomes controlled and limited by Bill, Georg, and Gustav. He doesn’t get the freedom to do what he likes when he likes.

It’s about time again – control of that aspect of his life is key to creating a punishment that really gets to Tom.

Collar and chain time is the extension of that babysitting part of the punishment. That means he gets no relief, and no respite from Georg or Gustav or Bill. Collar and chain time is when Tom is hooked up in his cuffs with the collar on either in front or behind of him, so he’s much more dependent on other people. It’s also important because it’s a constant reminder of Tom’s position as submissive, as dependent, as _less free_ during his punishment than any of the other three.

“And the last thing?”

This is the first red punishment that Tom has earned since the new rules were brought in, and even though Tom’s been told about the process and the way that things will be run around him, he doesn’t quite understand how it all works yet.

He’ll learn, though.

But he already struggled with the concept when Gustav laid the punishment out for him, could barely articulate it, and now that he has to say it to Georg, he’s struggling again.

“Tell me what the last thing is, Tom.”

“En-ene-“ Tom flushes bright red, and he won’t look at Georg. “Ah, fuck!”

“You can do it, Tom.”

It takes a while – maybe two minutes of deep breathing for Tom to lose some of that redness in his face and actually get a word out. “An en-enema.”

Enemas were Bill’s choice when they designed the punishment system, and even Georg was surprised. Enemas weren’t usually the place for newbies to start in his (admittedly limited) experience.

But Bill just… pushed the card with the word on it across the table even more firmly, even though he was red-faced and looked uncomfortable. When Gustav queried it, thinking that Bill didn’t know exactly what it involved, he shook his head, said he wanted it, and that was that.

They all agreed on the spanking, and the no dessert and no clubbing rule, and when Gustav brought up the concept of Tom being supervised, it kind of evolved into collar and chain time. But enemas were Bill’s first real separate contribution to their whole thing, and Georg let it in once Bill showed he’d done his research and knew exactly what he wanted.

Limits are important, but introducing things without proper consideration isn’t a good idea.

But Tom’s not experienced a full red card yet, so it’ll be a learning curve for all of them.

“And how many times do you get that, Tom?” Georg spins the little red card between his fingers, waiting for the response.

“Two. Two a week.” Tom whispers the response, but Georg is content with his answers. He’s shown that he understands consequences and that he’s remembered the right information from the list that’s pinned to his bedroom wall.

“So let’s get you started on the first part, shall we?”

“Fuck.”

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Discipline, Dinner, and Discussion**

 

 

 

“Don’t move.”

Tom served his sixteen minutes in the corner of Georg’s room, in the end. He didn’t have to do on his knees, but he’s cross legged; hands still chained behind him and nose in the corner. Georg’s phone ticks down the minutes in silence.

It’s a long sixteen minutes, but Tom doesn’t get restless or start asking _how long has it been yet?_ and Georg is pleased.

Tom’s learning.

Corner time isn’t necessarily to reprimand Tom; it’s to bring him back down to earth again. When Tom is stressed, he lashes out, or gets angrier and angrier; the frustration building until he reaches a point where it boils over, and Tom either can’t or _won’t_ control it. He lashes out again and again with both words and his fists or his feet, trying to needle whoever’s disciplining him into losing control too, so he doesn’t have to be alone in it.

Corner time stops that.

It’s boring, it’s restrictive, and it’s _calming_. For Tom, there’s nobody to fight against in the corner because it just keeps coming back, time after time, until he’s served his time. The corner doesn’t fight back, it doesn’t hold him down, it just _is_ , and there’s no escaping it. Tom can’t hide from it, and he can’t hide from himself. It’s probably a large part of why he cries afterwards, actually.

It’s also a safety valve for whoever’s disciplining Tom. It’s so fucking easy to get laser focused on the bad behaviour, locked into a battle that’s often physical too, and to forget what’s actually at the root of Tom’s misbehaviour.

Gustav is especially prone to that, Georg is learning.

Gustav tends to get so wrapped up in the individual aspects of Tom’s bad behaviour that he sees them as personal affronts, when in actual fact, the best way to look at is as a big picture about _Tom._ When he lashes out or insults whoever’s punishing him, Gustav can’t separate the fact that Tom might be saying them to Gustav, but he’s saying them _against_ the punishment system that Gustav represents. Most of the time, anyway. Having those sixteen minutes apart to calm down, to reset and prepare to go in again in a better frame of mind is important.

Georg is learning a lot about discipline and controlling Tom’s behaviour from Chris and Medra, and it’s not all physical. A lot of what they do together is discussion, sitting around on Medra’s couches with tea and a notebook, talking through the practicalities of how to work a four way power imbalanced relationship. They’re always looking at what happens now versus what Georg wants to happen and how they can get everybody to that point with the least amount of difficulty or stress.

When it comes to Tom, though, they disagree.

Chris says what Tom does is being a _brat_ , but Georg isn’t convinced, and neither’s Medra, Chris’s dominant.

Saying it like that implies that Tom does it for the attention all the time, that he doesn’t want anything from Georg more than the attention and the focus that a punishment brings to him. Georg doesn’t think that’s particularly true.

While Tom is a ridiculously needy, attention seeking person a lot of the time, wanting _a lot_ of contact and affection to get through the day, Georg doesn’t think he’s a brat. Tom doesn’t _like_ to be disobedient. He doesn’t like the result, he doesn’t like the punishment, he hates disappointing Georg, Gustav or Bill, and he really doesn’t get off on that. That much is clear to Georg. Spankings and cornering time do not turn Tom on; they’re not sexy to him.

He seems to act out because of… needing someone to notice him. To remind him that they’re not going anywhere. He seems to love the _good boy_ comments, the endless praise and affection rather than the punishments and disappointment. But also because he’s not _had_ any rules before, so when he comes up against them, he comes up against them _hard_. He acts out against that, not because he wants a spanking or an enema.

Georg is pretty sure that Tom would sell his right foot for no enema, rather than anything else, but that’s beside the point.

Tom craves the label of good boy, as opposed to punishment and pain, and that’s why Georg is convinced he’ll learn from this red card experience.

There’s going to be some rough patches, that’s for sure, and the next few weeks will probably be one of them. Tom’s never had a red punishment, Bill’s never given an enema before, Gustav’s still learning how to equally split it between being a hardass and being unpleasant and Georg is going to be trying to hold the four of them in some of kind of even keel. But Georg is convinced that it’ll be worth it, and that at the end of the punishment period, they’ll be the stronger for it.

They just have to get there.

Georg’s phone beeps.

“Time’s up.”

….

“Are you listening?”

Georg waits for Tom to nod and answer _yes, Georg_ , before he continues with his next part of the punishment.

“Ten for not taking your punishment when it was given to you, ten for being rude and trying to hit me, “ Georg counts up the total that Tom’s earned for his spanking, “and ten for being defiant.”

“Yes, Georg.” Tom bites his lip, but he doesn’t object, and Georg approves.

Tom is a fast talker when it comes to getting out of punishment. He doesn’t _like_ being spanked, and he usually tries to back out of it with a flurry of promises that it’ll never happen again, and begging Georg to be kind. Or Gustav. Bill’s not had that honour yet, but it’ll probably happen. It doesn’t work. It makes the punishment takes twice as long, and it’s just… It doesn’t work, and Tom knows it, but he keeps doing it anyway.

But this time, he’s taking his punishment well, and Georg is okay with that. Really.

It’s time for Georg to act though, and Tom’s getting his second part of the punishment now.

So far, Tom’s always been braced against the back of the sofa or over the bed, or a chair, trousers and boxers around his knees, but there’s always been distance between whoever’s spanking him and Tom.

This time, Georg is aiming for over the knee.

He wants to be up close and personal with Tom. He doesn’t want Tom to have that space that means he could calm up tight, that he would able to hold Georg at bay with.

When you’ve over someone’s knee, you’re close to them, physically. Your top can feel a sub’s breathing, their body temperature, every flinch and every whimper.

There is nothing between a top and a sub when they’re that close together, and Georg is aiming for exactly that.

It’s not the bed that Georg chooses to sit on – that’s too high, for his liking. Instead, he pulls out his desk chair, spins it around, and sits down on it. “Come here, Tom.”

“Oh, God.” Tom’s expression says he recognises what’s going to happen, but Georg isn’t interested in that now. Instead, he beckons Tom forward until he’s standing just to the side of the chair. “What – oh.”

Georg just yanks Tom’s oversized jeans down in one smooth motion, leaving them around his knees. His boxers – blue checked, and Georg could swear that they were _his_ at one point, but whatever – follow the jeans very quickly. Not that Georg can see anything – Tom’s tent like t-shirt covers up everything, almost to his knees.

“Turn.” After a few seconds, Tom does turn around, shuffling on the spot to face the wall away from him. Georg unbuckles one of the cuffs that are still holding Tom’s wrists tight to let him have his hands back to balance with. “Good boy. These will go back on afterwards. Understand?”

“Yes, Georg.”

“On my lap.” Georg is working hard at keeping his voice even and calm, not feeding into the worry that’s got Tom biting his lip, shifting from foot to foot. “Now, Tom.”

“….Yes, Georg.”

This is going to hurt, Georg knows. But Tom has honestly earned it.

….

Tom walks ahead of Georg, leading the way downstairs as Georg holds onto the chain between his cuffs, stopping Tom from rushing off but also making sure that Tom doesn’t go arse over tit down the stairs. He’s not going to get out of the cuffs that easily. Georg likes the way they limit Tom physically in the same way that the red card limits him socially and in activities and time as well.

Georg holds Tom’s hoodie in his arms and waits for him to take another step down. Tom’s had a new t-shirt because his other one was damp with sweat, and Georg knows in about fifteen minutes Tom’s going to get cold, once the last of the adrenaline stops surging. So Georg is prepared.

“I …” Tom stops in the middle of the stairs, turning to look back up at Georg with a strange expression on his face. “Geo…”

“What do you need, Tom?” Georg doesn’t let go of the chain, waiting for Tom to tell him what’s bothering him. Tom’s already done this twice before, but not managed to get through to actually asking what he wants before caving and turning around to carry on walking down the stairs.

Georg guesses it’s something to do with bodily functions – the way that Tom is shifting from foot to foot, hunching over a little tells him that much. It took about two and a half hours of fighting, apologising, corner time and spanking to get Tom to this point, so Georg is not surprised.

But Tom has to ask for it if he wants the bathroom; that’s how red cards work. Tom needs to articulate his needs or his wants, so that they can be fulfilled by Georg, Gustav, or Bill. He doesn’t get to do it on his own.

It teaches Tom the value of his freedom, in Georg’s opinion.

“I need… I…” Pink rises on Tom’s face, and he struggles to get out the words.

“What do you need, Tom?” Georg leans back on the bannister, waiting for Tom to spit it out. He’s got time to wait – Gustav’s doing dinner tonight, but it won’t be ready for half an hour. Just enough time to take Tom to the bathroom and then clear up the goddamn guitars in the studio.

“Urgh.” Tom sounds completely unimpressed, but he squares his shoulders, and Georg is strangely proud of him for overcoming that embarrassment.

“Can I go… to the b-bathroom? Please?”

“Of course.” Tom doesn’t like asking for permission to use the bathroom, or to shower and everything else, but it’s part of collar and chain time. If he wants something, he can ask, and someone else can make the decision for him whether it’s okay or not. Georg nods. “You can use the downstairs one – before dinner.”

Tom shuffles downstairs, taking each step carefully. Georg doesn’t rush him, knowing that it’s kind of hard to go downstairs when your hands are tied up behind you. The risk of falling flat on your face is a big one, so he just holds onto the chain between Tom’s cuffs and waits for him to make his way downstairs slowly. They make it to the ground floor eventually, and Tom sighs in relief when he finally makes the red carpet of the hallway.

“Turn left.” Georg says quietly, and Tom follows the instruction obediently, turning down the small hall which leads to the bathroom, rather than the kitchen. “Back to me, palms together.” Tom sighs but obliges, and Georg undoes the buckles on both cuffs. Before he takes them off though, he taps them. “When you come out, these go back on.”

“Or?”

“Or you can have the leg cuffs added and forget about dinner. Straight to bed.”

“Oh.” Tom doesn’t like the sound of that, judging from the way his shoulders tense and his voice sounds worried.

“So be good for me, Tom, and it won’t happen.” Georg strips the wide leather bands off Tom’s slender wrists, leaves them swinging from the chain in his own hands. “You want dinner, right?”

“Mmm….” Tom steps into the bathroom, and he holds onto the door, looking anxious. “Open or…?”

“Open.” Georg shrugs. “Bathroom door privileges, Tom, have been revoked. An inch open all the time.”

“Ergh.”

But Tom doesn’t object more than that, and he leaves the door open. Georg sits on the bottom step of the stairs, able to see the bathroom door in the mirror on the wall opposite, and he waits. Tom’s fastidious nature means that he’ll be a while in there, and Georg has time to kill.

For now.

….

Tom sits at the kitchen table, morosely picking at his dinner as he shifts uncomfortably.

His backside is probably sore, but Gustav, predictably, doesn’t like Tom’s disrespect of the rules by his constant rocking from side to side, and he puts a heavy hand on Tom’s shoulder.

“Eat, and stop doing that,” he says, and Tom huffs.

He’s good though, picking up his fork and chowing down.

It’s not his favourite – chicken, potatoes, gravy, peas and sweet corn to cover all the bases of essential nutrition - and Georg requires him to finish at least half of it before the hour for dinner is up. That’s always been Georg’s rule when they were thinking about rules and how to do things during punishments and on a day to day basis, focusing on meals and finishing them, because otherwise Tom would go to bed hungry and forget about food, full stop.

And Georg does _not_ approve of that.

The twins do not have a good relationship with food, in Georg and Gustav’s opinion, skipping meals regularly and ignoring set meal times in favour of grabbing whatever’s quickest and closest to them whenever they’re hungry. And it doesn’t take a degree in nutrition to work out that what they do eat is not completely healthy.

If it were up to the twins, they’d live on coffee, pizza, and the occasional box of cereal for breakfast. Georg isn’t the healthiest eater either, but ever since he started working out in the gym, and dragging Gustav along with him, he’s appreciating the value of salad, fruit, vitamins and a variation in his diet. Even though they only have control over Tom, where one twin goes, the other follows, and recently, all four of them have been moving towards better dinners and attitudes towards food beyond pizza, coke, coffee and chips.

David near on had a heart attack when he saw Gustav’s shopping list request for the first week after they made the rules, because it had salad on it, and fruit, and root vegetables rather than just reams of pizza and coke. Georg’s course about diet and exercise from the OU is giving him enough ideas to get them all to eat better. If Tom is going to have a new, healthy eating regime, then why not put them all on it?

He is not the fucking mother hen of the four.

He _isn’t_.

He totally fucking is, but that’s beside the point.

“Ten minutes left,” Georg says, reminding Tom of the hour limit to eat as he scrapes his own plate into the bin, the last remnants of potatoes and gravy all that’s left of his dinner. Gustav is a damn good cook, in Georg’s opinion.

Without the hour long limit, Tom used to just wait until Georg gave up with getting him to eat, because when Tom doesn’t have clearly defined boundaries, he will just push as far as he can, and pushing back is hard. With that rule, if Tom doesn’t eat in his allotted time, that’s fine. He just doesn’t get anything else.

“Nrgh.” Tom slides further down in his seat, but he picks up his fork and starts eating again. He’s the last one left eating at the table now, Gustav already wrist deep in the washing up, and Georg just finished now. Tom’s not happy about sitting on the hard wooden chair though, his backside red and painful from the thirty he got while over Georg’s knee earlier, and he’s been restless all the way through dinner. Tom doesn’t like going over Georg’s knee at all, either. Georg can count on one finger the number of times it’s happened in the last ten weeks (today), but Tom’s already made up his mind about being spanked from the other times, and he hates that. Getting put over Georg's knee doesn't change that dislike at all.

Tom doesn’t like a lot of things when it comes to punishments, funnily enough.

Bill sits on the counter, picking at his own dinner, as he plays on his phone, and Georg rolls his eyes mentally. Well, whatever. He can only work on one twin at a time, and Bill is half parrot anyway.

The chain from Tom’s cuffs clinks against his plate, and Tom sighs in frustration. He’s just been recuffed in the front because Georg doesn’t want him kicking off again, and even though Tom doesn’t like it, it’s not changing.

“What’s for dessert, Gustav?” Bill’s still picking over his vegetables, looking less than impressed with them, but he’s eating them slowly. Progress, Georg supposes.

“Black forest gateau.”

“Urgh.” Tom looks even more despondent at Gustav’s reply, because he _loves_ Gustav’s baking, and he’s obviously pissed about missing it. But, credit where it’s due, he doesn’t kick off again about it, just shovels down the last of his chicken and pushes his plate away. “Done.”

“Good boy,” Georg praises him, and Tom colours again.

Praise is important, letting Tom know he’s actually done well, and even though he’s heading straight for an early bedtime, and tomorrow’s the start of his two week punishment, praise never stops when he’s been good. _Good boy, I like that, well done_ , claps on Tom’s back, hugs and kisses, that’s all the kind of things that Georg, Gustav, and Bill can give to Tom to reassure him of his good behaviour.

That’s something Georg has been clear about from the beginning – Tom doesn’t have that consistency about knowing when he’s good or not, which is what fucked him over for the last six months before they got him on the new rules. So someone else has to provide that.

The pink blush on Tom’s face, the one that says he’ll never get used to it, is just an added bonus.

….

“So?”

“So what?” Georg shrugs as Gustav rolls his eyes at the lack of information. “He’s in bed. Not sleeping, but he’s in bed.”

They’re in the kitchen, Georg walking through the door right into the conversation between Bill and Gustav that looked very serious. Bill had been biting his lower lip, hiding his hands inside his sleeves, which tells Georg that it’s not so good of a conversation.

“Oh, right.” Gustav pulls out a chair from under the kitchen table, looks at the notepad that Bill’s pushed across the table. “What are we discussing tonight?”

Georg pulls the red card out of his pocket, placing it on the table in front of him as he sits down. “He got his first one today.”

The red card was designed by Gustav. It’s about the size of a credit card, bright laminated red like a football penalty card, and that’s the basic function. It signified a punishment. The mere sight of it is enough to indicate Tom’s punishment, hence why there’s no writing on it.

Each of the six colours have their own card corresponding to it, and it’s enough for them to show the cards to Tom to show his punishments, rather than discussing them in public, using words like _spanking_ and _enema_ in front of other people. That could get embarrassing.

“Ah.” Bill looks slightly apprehensive. “What…what does that mean?”

“Spankings, enemas, collar and chain time, restrictions on what he can and can’t do and eat… It’s all been decided on.” Georg points to the notebook where Bill keeps his list of everything they discuss in their little meetings together. “Come on. You know this, Bill.”

“I know…” But Bill’s still looking unsure. “I just…This is a big turning point, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” Georg nods. “It is. Tom’s really pushed it this time, and we have to make it clear that that’s not okay. So we’re going to start as we mean to go on, and do exactly what we decided to about red punishments. He needs to know that we,” Georg indicates himself, Bill, and Gustav, “mean business.”

“We do.” Gustav shrugs.

“Bill?” Georg grips the cup of coffee that Gustav poured for him, eyes Bill closely. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“You’re about as good a liar as your brother, Bill.” Gustav snorts into his own coffee at Georg’s words. “Seriously, if you’re not okay with this, we need to talk about it.”

“I’m good. Really. I want to be good at this.”

“You don’t sound it…” Gustav raises an eyebrow at Georg.

“I’m fine. It’s just …weird?” Bill shrugs. “I guess I’ll get used to it.”

“Well, you’ve got four weeks of it,” Georg lays his hands on the table, framing his coffee mug. “Tom’s red card is the first one he’s ever got from us, right?”

“Yes.” Bill flicks through his notebook, right to the back where he keeps a tally of what Tom’s got in terms of cards. Mostly, it’s been yellow cards and up every day – no purples, but plenty of blues and greens, and a few yellows from when he was bucking hard. One lonely orange, two weeks ago, and now, the red.

“So how are we going to break this down?” Gustav leans back in his chair.

“I think we need to keep Tom moving between us, because otherwise he’s going to get complacent. And that’s not good,” Georg says, thoughtfully. “I’m going to take the lead on this- “

“Sure.” Bill nods. He’s not up on controlling Tom on his own, never mind navigating all four of them through a red card for the first time.

“Mmm.” Gustav would probably give it a try, but Georg doesn’t particularly want him to. Gustav’s got the practical skills down, but the softer skills – the _people_ skills David keeps banging on about – are a bit behind that.

Tom’s going to require a lot of those soft skills the next few days.

“We’ll start on it properly tomorrow morning. I’ll wake him up – Gustav, breakfast – and bring him down here, and I think we’ll just go from there.”

“What about…his e-enema?” Bill licks his lips. “When will that happen?”

“Say…three or four days?” Georg shrugs. “Tomorrow’s Monday, so let’s say…. Wednesday for that?”

“Why not tomorrow?”

“I think Tom’s going to be wigging out all over the place.” Gustav smirks. It’s true. Tom always takes a few days to get with the programme, so a few days grace is probably a good idea. “If we said Thursday, then he’ll be less likely to freak out, and we won’t have to get pissy with him.”

“Good point.” Bill jots something down in his notebook.

It’s Bill’s bible for this kind of thing, and it holds all their arrangements and contingency plans and everything else. It’s basically a one stop shop for everything about their new relationship with Tom.

If Tom looked in it, Bill would smack him so hard, he’d forget his own name; that’s what Tom has been promised.

Funnily enough, Georg believes it.

So does Tom.

They move into a day by day conversation – looking at who will take Tom when, because it’s not cool to dump one of them with looking after Tom all fucking day. Nice as it may be to spend time with him, there are going to be times when a little separation is necessary to maintain sanity.

Bill doesn’t do mornings, heaven forbid, and Gustav’s not such a fan of the evening shift, as it were, because that’s his own downtime that he has away from the rest of the band. Georg does not want to be stuck with Tom for the lion's share of the day… As hurtful as that sounds, it means that Georg can only get limited amounts of work done during that time, and he kind of does have a life outside of Tom that requires him to practise his own instrument and do essays and shit for his degree.

In the end, they figure it out. Bill gets the night shift as it were – everything after dinner. He likes to do that – laying out Tom’s clothes for the morning, getting him through the shower, doing twin things in Tom’s bedroom that get explained with a hand wave and not much else. Georg gets to trade off the morning shift with Gustav whenever it’s okay with both of them and the same with the rest of the day shift since then it’ll be fair, and, yeah, it’s weird.

It has to be so precisely planned during a punishment like this. Usually, they’re much more intuitive about this kind of thing, and they have the extra fact that normally, Tom doesn’t have to be within three feet of whoever’s minding him. He likes his own space as much as Gustav, sometimes, and that means they all get some private time. During a punishment, that goes out the window.

Everything around Tom has to move like a carefully oiled machine, every part of it in unison with every other part. If they show a divided, disorganised front, that’s the cue for Tom to start acting up again.

And that’s not something that Georg will let happen.


	4. Chapter 4

  
**Rise and Shine**   


**(Or Maybe Not)**

Georg swings the collar from hand to hand, feeling the cool chain run through his fingers.

He’s about to go and wake Tom up for his first day of being on a _Red_ punishment, where he gets collar and leash time, and Georg is a little nervous. Whenever he’s disciplined before, it’s always been Georg supervised by Chris or Medea, and now that’s not going to happen.

He’s confident in his technical knowledge of how to control Tom, but it’s his skill in applying that knowledge that he’s not so comfortable with.

But, as he stands in front of Tom’s door, now’s really not the time to be thinking like that. He needs to be calm and in control to keep Tom in line properly, not psyching himself out and telling himself he can’t do this.

He can.

He will.

He breathes deep, and then pushes the door open.

Inside the bedroom, Georg stands at the foot of the bed, eyeing the lump under the duvet. Tom – like Bill – sleeps like the dead, absolutely impervious to anything and everything until he’s ready and willing to get up.

Or, until Georg physically relieves Tom of his right to sleep.

It’s never worth charging in, shouting and demanding Tom rise from his bed. That just starts the day off with a fight if Georg is lucky, and Tom being in a pissy mood taken up to eleven and a fight if he’s not.

It takes _one_ time for Georg to learn that, to revise his strategy for waking Tom up.

Instead, Georg starts slow.

He sits on the edge of Tom’s bed, pulling the duvet down just enough for him to see Tom’s face. It’s kind of sweet the way Tom often sleeps all curled up in a ball, foetal position. He’s breathing slowly and evenly, long eyelashes dark against his cheeks as he remains deep in sleep.

Georg is, and probably will forever be, fascinated by the way that Tom fights tooth and nail against his prettiness, throwing around his manhood as though it can erase the fact that he and Bill are identical, and that means they’re both pretty. Bill’s more rocker-androgynous and that’s the route he’s been aiming for all along, but Tom can often pass for female _without_ make up much to his disgust. Long lashes, a plush bottom lip, wide eyes and a sweet face add up to an appearance that’s not hard-core masculine.

Bill’s got a plan for some time in the future, and Georg would kill for something a little more kinky in the bedroom, but for now, Tom stuck in baggy pants, and no make up. One step at a time, Georg reminds himself.

As much as he would wish for it, they have to learn to walk before they can run.

Or let Bill get out the cross dressing kink.

Georg stares at Tom for a moment, wondering what it would feel to see Tom wearing something a little more femme, but now is not the time to be thinking with his dick.

Much to said dick’s disappointment.

“Come on, Tom.” Georg runs his finger along that feathered line of lashes, waiting for Tom to rise up through the black. “Rise and shine, Tom…”

No reaction.

Gustav, at this point, would reach for the ice cold flannel he’d have brought as back up, shove it as far under the covers as he could reach and treat Tom to an early morning bed bath from hell, and Bill would probably climb _into_ bed with Tom, and just wait for him to wake up through, like, twin osmosis or something.

Georg prefers a different approach.

Being as infuriatingly cheerful as possible.

Both twins _despise_ it. They’re both seriously not morning people, and loathe the perkiness that Georg can throw around in the morning when he wants to. Georg takes pride in that – there’s nothing like starting the day with bright cheery singing in the shower and relentless _good morning, twins_! If it pissed both twins off, double whammy.

He gives it the nice and gentle approach one last try though, before resorting to the ridiculous amounts of cheerfulness that he would prefer, stroking his hand along Tom’s neck, feeling how soft and warm his skin is as Georg’s hand descends below the duvet. “Come on, Tom. You need to get up now.”

“Nrgh.” Tom just draws the duvet up higher, tilting his chin so Georg can reach more of his neck, but that’s about it. That’s the only response Georg gets. Wonderful.

Plan B it is.

_“Rise and shine, Tom!”_

\---

Tom’s grumpy as fuck when he’s woken up early; Georg knows. Years of early morning interviews don’t change the fact the twins are essentially nocturnal, and to them, nine am is actually the early hours of their night, but it took only one firm slap on the thigh to remind Tom to cut out the mouthing off.

Maybe two, if Georg is honest.

Apparently, Tom’s previous distaste of being woken up by having the duvet removed forcibly hasn’t changed. At all. He’s tried to let Georg know how _unhappy_ he is with a stream of swearwords, but Georg is having none of that crap. Not now, not ever.

“Stop being mardy, Tom,” Georg holds up a finger in front of Tom’s face. “Either you can be silent, or you can have nice words, or you can have sixteen minutes in the corner. Those are your choices.”

Tom picks silence. Predictably.

He clams up tight, sitting in the middle of his bed wrapped in the duvet, looking all pouty and miserable as Georg draws the curtains, lets the sunlight come streaming into the room.

It shows everything up in bright contrast, all the neatly laid out clothes on the back of the desk chair, the soft dressing gown on the back of the door, the stacks and stacks of neat video games and DVDs in their cases underneath the television.

The thirty inch flat screen on the wall is something that Gustav will take the cables out of today, and the same with the Xbox and the PlayStation, because Tom’s not allowed them. His laptop is already secreted in Bill’s room. Next week, he’ll have maybe some supervised time on it, just to answer emails and shit, but that’s about it.

Tom already knows that the electronic dearth is coming. He’s stuck on books or other, less technical pursuits like that for the next four weeks. Georg explained it to him last night, before he left Tom alone in his room to nap with the express warning that if the TV went on, there would be more punishment added on.

Tom didn’t like losing his electronics, but the thought of getting another, worse punishment than he already had probably brought him around to Georg’s way of thinking.

By the time Georg went to bed at eleven thirty, Tom was clapped out in his room, no TV on, and not even a nightlight.

Good boy.

Now, Tom pouts even more as Georg flings the window open – fresh air is important to waking up properly, and he whimpers. “Why?”

“Because it’s morning, and you need fresh air. Don’t tempt me to make it a run.” Actually, that’s an idea… Georg puts that idea in a box to consider for later and turns back to Tom, who’s still not moving.

He’s silent though.

But Georg doesn’t object to that. It least it’s better than dealing with Tom when he’s verbally spouting off and angry. Georg really is hoping that he doesn’t have to spank Tom today. He has one planned for tomorrow to give Tom’s backside a chance to recover, but it doesn’t mean he can’t earn more.

Tom only actually gets of bed when Georg pokes and pulls him out – it’s like herding cats, only less fun, sometimes – but Georg refuses to let it get to him. This is just punishment, not a personal affront.

Instead, he waits for Tom to find his towel, and to find another dread scarf for the rest of today, and then Georg ushers Tom into the bathroom, post haste. Tom really don’t get any alone time when he’s on punishment, and that’s the way it’s going to be for the next four weeks.

Once Georg shuts the door, and sits himself on the toilet, Tom sighs.

“Strip off, Tom.”

“Yes, Georg.”

 

\---

 

Bill laid out some clothes – just sweatpants, underwear, and a t-shirt today, since there are no plans to go anywhere or see anybody – and once he went through the wash at the sink, and tooth brushing, and dread scarfing, Georg let Tom get dressed.

So what if he likes to keep Tom as naked as possible for as long as possible. He likes the view.

But the fact is, he’s got Tom up, dressed, collar on but still barefoot, and shuffling behind Georg as they make their way to breakfast at the shockingly early time of nine thirty am.

Bill would rather die than be up this early and usually, so would Tom. Unfortunately for him, he doesn't get to choose. Georg does.

“What’s for breakfast?” Georg asks Gustav as soon as he enters the kitchen.

“Porridge for Tom.” Gustav points to the table with a wooden spoon before turning back to the stove. “For us, scrambled eggs and bacon.”

“Urgh.” Tom looks revolted, and Georg doesn’t even bother to hide his smirk. Tom is a picky eater, as previously said. He prefers cereal or hot black coffee, but Gustav has this epic hard-on for healthy food for breakfast. In his opinion, porridge with one spoonful of sugar and no coffee is a perfectly good start to the day, not sugary cereal and coffee so thick you could stand a spoon in it.

It’s another thing that Tom will have to get used to these next few weeks.

Tom slumps into the chair that Georg indicates, his face a picture of unhappiness, but he does lift up his spoon.

The choice of no food until lunch or porridge is obviously easily made. Tom hates to be hungry.

Georg settles to his own breakfast with gusto, sitting opposite Tom and pouring lashings of ketchup over his bacon, much to Tom’s disgust.

He’s not a ketchup fan.

Pleb.

Bill won’t stir for hours – not until after lunch, probably – so Gustav just shoves a bowl of fruit in the fridge for him. No doubt Bill will top that with two bowls of cornflakes ,because that’s what he does, but that’s beside the point. It's the thought that counts.

“What’s happening today?” Tom scrapes his spoon across the bottom of the bowl in front of him, slopping the half-finished porridge from side to side, but Georg shakes his head at Tom’s behaviour. _Eat it all_ , it means, and Tom rolls his eyes before obliging.

“Quiet day,” Georg decides. He could be a hard ass, getting Tom to practise his guitar and his drums (Tom needs to be kept musically occupied on all fronts, sometimes) over and over, basically locking him in a practise booth until his fingers bleed before taking him to the gym, but today, Georg is feeling lazy. “We can go into the den, read, draw, and chill out in front of the fire.”

Gustav snorts because that’s his usual plan of action (apart from the drawing), but for Georg and Tom, they’re usually a bit more high energy.

“Sounds nice.”

Outside, it’s pissing down with rain, and Georg doesn’t fancy going out in that, not least because it would fuck up his hair.

A day spent in front of the fire with a quiet Tom sounds really good after the stress of yesterday.

 

\---

In the den, it’s pretty warm and cosy.

Georg specifically picked this room exactly because of that. The lights on the wall are yellowish which makes them forgiving. The fire in the hearth is warm and relaxing. Even the decor in this room makes it soft and gentle – the rich greens of the walls, and dark furniture make it feel welcoming.

Everything in this room is about relaxation, and a distinct lack of pressure - there’s no TV, and no electronics in here, and Georg has strictly prohibited anything negative like crappy newspapers, and fanmail from coming in here. It's a designated safe space for all the band away from the music world and the technicalities of being world famous rock stars, and today, Georg is taking advantage of that.

So is Tom. He sleeps. A lot.

Georg doesn’t begrudge him that. It’s damn boring being babysat, he thinks, and he’s not the one enduring it. Tom’s kept on a short chain, close to Georg; he can sit on a cushion on the floor beside Georg’s chair and if he wants a lie down, he can lie on the floor in front of the fire, but that’s it. And he’s not allowed TV or video games either.

So he sleeps. Bill brought down the blanket from his own bed, and Tom’s curled up on the floor in front of the fire on top of the thick, navy blue material.

He’s like a fucking cat, honestly.

Both twins are, but Tom takes it to a fucking ridiculous level sometimes.

Ten minutes in the warmth of the fire, and he’s a warm, gooey mess on the floor. His t-shirt rides up, showing his belly, and Georg has to fight to resist the urge to go and pet the bared skin. Tom’s _so_ sensitive that he’d probably pop wood straight away, and Georg knows when Tom is warm and sleepy, he’s very trusting. He’d immediately open up to Georg’s hands, let his sweatpants be pulled down, let Georg’s hands touch his dick and maybe even further down.

It’s a Tom thing.

Sometimes, he’s piss and vinegar, and he fights every step of the way, and sometimes, he’s so ready and so okay with anything that Georg almost is hesitant to test those boundaries.

He absolutely knows that Tom would be more than happy to let Georg explore him now, to let him do almost anything to him, and Georg would absolutely love to because he loves exploring Tom’s body, loves finding out what makes Tom moan and what makes him gasp, and what makes him beg for more, but Georg can’t.

As much as he would love to, it’s not going to happen. Since Tom is on a ban from sex and orgasm for the next three weeks to a month, Georg has to restrain himself.

Instead, he turns to more literary pursuits to keep Tom entertained rather than sex or electronics.

Books are good. And magazines.

Gustav’s brought Tom a selection from his own library since Tom’s not got many books, and after an hour of sulking, which got him precisely nowhere on the _‘getting Georg to let Tom watch TV’_ front, Tom caved. This morning, he spent a good three hours nose first in something about soldiers and secret plots, and it kept him quiet. Which was good in Georg’s opinion. He likes it when Tom is settled and quiet. Georg managed to get halfway through his stack of motorbike magazines that he’s been putting off reading for weeks.

Far from being tense, as Georg expected, the atmosphere is still… pleasant. Peaceful. There is music in the background – soft classical because Georg fucking _likes_ classical, and it’s not fucking stupid – and the fire is really warm as it crackles in the background, and everything feels… good.

It is peaceful to spend time with Tom like this, rather than fighting, or Tom being stroppy, or even when he’s using his normal isolationistic techniques to get away from everybody. Tom can be profoundly unsociable when he’s feeling the external pressure of the world, and Georg doesn’t like that. At all. The twins – and especially Tom – don’t do well when they’re under stress from management and internal pressures. Bill’s outlet is shopping and going to Andreas’s, but Tom’s is sex. Or drugs. Or booze.

But they’re working on breaking him of that, too. Sex is good, but when it becomes an escape route, rather than for pleasure or enjoyment, then it’s a bad thing. It means Tom isn’t dealing with whatever’s bothering him, just shoving it off. Same with booze. Tom stops engaging with whatever’s bothering him when he turns to booze, choosing to abandon everything in favour of forgetting it, mostly. It’s not a good coping mechanism because it drifts into something far more serious, and Georg does _not_ want to go dragging Tom out of that mess yet again.

Better to catch it early.

Dealing with Tom and his submission and everything else is interesting for Georg. It requires him to think about Tom in terms of not just punishment and pleasure, but psychologically. Learning what makes Tom tick, and what doesn’t. Thinking about his diet, his physical wellbeing, and pairing that with taking care of Tom emotionally and mentally. It’s hard. Georg is struggling to sometimes stretch himself that far, when he’s tired or frustrated. He has to think about Tom’s point of view and try to work out _why_ Tom is behaving badly, even though he’d like to just spank him and send him to bed.

But the changes are real.

Tom has changed for the better since this all started, barring last night. He’s a lot better about drinking and his weed intake – in all honesty, he’s been completely sober for six weeks, and he only smoked a joint when Bill had one a few weeks ago, rather than keeping a huge stash in his room and smoking it out of the window in secret. He’s ready and willing to practise his music in the studio, and he’s no longer angry all the time. He doesn’t deliver stinging remarks to everybody if they ask him to do something like clean up his room, and he isn’t ragging on Bill relentlessly. Or needling Gustav about his weight, or harassing Georg about women, or just _being an absolute ass_.

Tom’s very good at that when he wants to be, even if Georg doesn’t like it.

But ever since they started discipline, started correcting the negative behaviours and rewarding the good ones, Tom’s no longer a complete and utter nightmare to live with. He was a fucking nightmare too, even he admits it. It was nonstop, angry, hurtful commentary and ‘jokes’ that weren’t jokes at all, pushing and shoving physically too, and just leaving everybody feeling bruised and battered, over and over again. Georg’s not perfect. He’s cracked jokes, said and done things which weren’t fair before and had to apologise for them, but Tom was fucking determined to get the last word in and make it hurt.

Part of Georg was just plain hurt and angry by it, wanting to lash back and make it hurt just as much as Tom’s words did. The other, more mature part of his mind was asking _why. Why_ was Tom suddenly so angry, so hurtful? _Why_ was he so determined to take it out on people close to him? _Why_ was it happening, and _why_ was Georg not doing anything to stop it?

It took time.

Time and a lot of digging and trying to get Tom to open to them to get to the truth, but they got there in the end.

Tom couldn’t handle the pressure. That was the simple truth. Tom couldn’t handle the lack of stability because they were always on the road; he didn’t like the fact they were always in the limelight, and he really couldn’t handle the fact he had so much freedom but was expected to keep on the straight and narrow. Tom doesn’t have that internal sense of self control. He sees what he wants – pot, booze, and girls, whatever – and he goes for it. He doesn’t see a reason to stop even if everybody else can.

That’s made him so terrible to live with before – he was always hung over or on a come down or late, because he’d let a girl stay over, and he had to get rid of her before he could go and practise, or he just was tired.

Life was fucking miserable for everybody.

Now, everything’s changed. In just a few weeks, it’s almost like he’s a whole new person again.

Rather than a prickly, angry hurtful Tom, suddenly, he’s very affectionate, needy for attention and time, and they’re all more than happy to give it. Tom needs that affection – the touches and the constant stream of positive words and praise – to get through the day, or so it seems, and Georg is learning when Tom’s pulling for affection because he just wants more, and when he actually needs it. Tom’s always going to have that ‘push for more’ aspect to his personality, that much Georg has figured out. But then again, they probably wouldn’t be as famous as they are now if the twins didn’t share that trait. It just has to be controlled, rather than allowed to rule the band.

The twins are getting better too.

Tom’s spending more time with Bill now. They have twin shopping trips, and twin movie nights, and twin laughs and jokes that come out of nowhere with just a nod and an eyebrow lift. It’s weird as fuck, but whatever. It’s a good thing because the rift between the twins threatened everything Tokio Hotel. Bill and Tom are the creative engines to the band, and if they won’t work, the band doesn’t function.

That’s as simple as it gets.

Georg and Gustav are the balances, the ones who can bring the twins’ visions to the surface or provide a counter to their general insanity, because too much one of thing is a bad idea, but they can’t do it on their own. It requires the twins to be in harmony for them to do their thing. Now that the twins are all touchy feely again, hugging and sharing beds and being generally intertwined with each other in a ridiculous way, everything’s getting back to normal.  
But there’s one _huge_ shift that nobody expected.

Georg may have _hoped_ , and so did Gustav, but nobody expected it.

Georg and Gustav also are reaping the rewards – both in and out of bed.

Far from being a straight laced heterosexual playboy, Tom is actually a **lot** bendy in his sexuality.

Georg hasn’t pushed Tom to identify where he stands, and he will continue to leave Tom to figure it out because dragging someone out of the closet is unpleasant at best, and cruel at worse. But if Georg had to put money somewhere, he’d peg Tom somewhere around bisexual. He knows that Tom enjoyed heterosexual sex, very much so.

But the way that he’s gone down for Georg and Gustav, the way that he’s desperate for their hands and their kisses and everything else, tells Georg something else about Tom that maybe he wasn’t aware of before.

Georg is bi. That much he is rather convinced of, not least because he has tried and experimented and used empirical evidence to decide his preference. Georg is, at heart, someone who needs proof of something as opposed to the twins, who are ridiculously intuitive and do things based on wishy-washy feelings.

Gustav is bi too, has the porn mags to prove it, but he leans further towards guys, and Bill is… Bill.

Bi is a label that Bill’s been tossing around for a long time, or just plain _queer_ , rather than slapping a particular type of queer onto it, but he’s not settled on one yet. There’s something about Bill that makes him march to a different tune altogether, and Georg is interested to see where Bill actually goes with it.

But Tom still says he’s straight, even though he’s more than okay with Georg and Gustav bundling him in and out of bed, messing with him in bathrooms and kissing him at every opportunity.

Maybe that label will finally be retired once Tom figures himself out.

But the fact remains, that Tom is very amenable to sex still. With Georg and Gustav. Seriously. He’s never had it with guys before – total virgin in that respect, and it shows, and no, they still haven’t progressed to penetration properly yet. But hand jobs and blowjobs are still sex, and Tom’s mouth and hands are surprisingly talented in those regards and he _wants_ sex whatever form it comes in.

Georg would say that he’s insatiable at times, but then again, between Georg and Gustav, he’s usually well worn out before they are. Two on one are odds that they like.

At the end of the day, Tom’s not perfect, and he never will be, but it’s a big improvement from where he used to be.

Now, it’s after lunch – which was minestrone soup and dark rye bread, made also by Gustav (who can fucking cook like a boss) – and Georg has changed up the activities a bit.

Not much.

A bored Tom is one who likes to get into trouble, and that’s… not good. For anybody. Georg knows that Tom can draw though, and that’s what he’s doing now; sitting beside Georg’s chair, hardly even aware of the silver chain leash that’s draped half around his neck and threads its way through his dreadlocks to wind around Georg’s wrist.

He’s only got a pencil and a pad of drawing paper, but he’s still creating some pretty amazing things.

“Good boy, Tom,” Georg praises him, stroking down Tom’s neck as he watches Tom sketch a beach scene.

His style isn’t a perfect rendition this time. He’s aiming for movement and flow to explain the volley ball sequence, and Georg can almost see the players leaping for the ball, their limbs moving and the wind in their hair. Quick pencil strokes, a smudge or two: Tom’s building the scene up more and more with just the implication of people.

But Georg can see it.

Tom shifts, but it’s quick ,and he’s soon refocused on the pad on his lap. Georg keeps stroking his neck and watching Tom create something pretty awesome.

This is what Georg likes about their new relationship. It’s not complicated all the time, and it’s a lot about just making things feel good, rather than being perfect.

It’s pretty cool, sometimes.


	5. Chapter 5

 

**Bad Attitudes and Corrections**

 

Georg wraps Tom’s leash tighter around his wrist, pulling Tom closer.

It’s been three days since his punishment began, four since he pitched a bitch fit about the corner and the guitars, and now, he’s ready for his first enema.

Well, _ready_ might not be the right word. But he’s going to have one, whether he likes it or not, and now is the time that Bill decided on for it.

And Tom is not looking forward to the process. At all.

“Come on, Tom.” Georg pulls Tom closer, trying to get him to walk down the hall, but Tom groans, sounding unenthusiastic at best, and seriously unimpressed at worst. It’s a long walk to the bathroom, and Georg doesn’t think Tom will take it quickly.

Patience is the order of the day.

Bill’s in his and Tom’s shared bathroom, and Georg knows Bill’s plans for the room. He’ll have laid out towels (clean, fresh laundered, and thick so the cold won’t seep through from the tiles) on the floor, and got the enema bag and hose ready, and made sure there is a bowl of water on the side for ‘accidents’. He’ll also have prepared Tom’s bed too for afterwards, because he’ll need cuddles, and kisses, and lots of touches and reassurance that he’s safe and okay.

That's what Medra advises anyway, a post enema space that's relaxed and warm for a sub to come out or up from subspace if they need it and Bill took those kinds of lessons to heart. She gave Georg a video where she was demonstrating on a female sub because Chris didn’t like enemas, and that’s what Bill’s been learning from since Medra won’t teach him until he’s eighteen. That plus the internet.

The sub’s name was Judy, and she had brilliant scarlet hair.

Georg likes redheads.

So does Tom, but he’s not been allowed to see the video yet, so he doesn’t know how magnificent her hair really is.

Or how awesome Medra is.

But this is Bill’s first time, and they decided – Georg, Gustav, and Bill – that Georg should sit in until either it was over, or Bill decided he had it in hand. Whichever came first. Even though it’s Bill’s punishment – his to control and to administer to Tom – he’s never done this before. It’s a good idea to have a second person in there until Bill is confident with what he’s doing, just in case something goes wrong, or Bill falters.

“Georg…” Tom’s perilously close to whinging, and Georg rolls his eyes before he turns around.

“No. Stop procrastinating. Bathroom.” Georg points in the direction of the bathroom, all of twenty feet away. “March. Now.”

“But-"

“Either you can move, or you can get my hand on your backside. Your choice.” Georg watches as Tom obviously weighs up the options and finds only one side acceptable. “Good. Now go.”

Tom does go. Scuffing his bare feet on the floor and sighing as he passes Georg, but he does go. It’s one battle that Georg is glad that Tom gave in for. A spanking before an enema might have just made everything ten times worse.

Georg knocks on the bathroom door, and Tom sighs beside him again.

“Bill? Can we come in?”

 

\---

“Strip, Tom.”

“Is…” Tom looks at Georg, his face a picture of hesitation, but Bill shakes his head, clicks his fingers to get Tom’s attention. “What?”

“Focus on me."

“But…”

“I’m leading you right now.” As much as he is able to, anyway, Georg thinks. “Me. Not Georg. So focus on me, okay?”

“Fine.”

"Excuse me?" Okay, now that was a bit of authority in there. "You know how to address me, so _use it_ , Tom." Georg didn’t expect that. Neither did Tom, judging from the look on his face.

"Yes, Bill.” That's more like it.

“Better.” Bill nods in approval at Tom’s lack of bite in those two words. “Now, strip.”

“Nrgh.” Tom looks absolutely despondent as he reluctantly peels of his t-shirt, the vest underneath rising up to reveal his belly before he drops his arms again.

“Fold it and put it on the side, Tom.” Bill’s sitting on the side of the bath, his face made up, and his black jeans and t-shirt are a stark contrast to the clean white tile behind him. He clicks his fingers, expecting Tom to jump to.

But Tom’s dragging his feet, obviously trying to put it off. His face is tense and his body language says he’d rather be anywhere but in this bathroom. He won’t be getting out of it, though.

Georg would give him a slap to his backside and tell him to hurry up or take the spanking he would so well deserve, and Gustav would probably do the same, but that’s them. Bill is going to have to establish his own patterns for discipline that align with his own abilities and strengths, and that’s something that only comes with practise. Georg can’t intervene unless Bill asks him to, or if Bill is making a mistake so serious that it can’t go uncorrected. Until then, Georg is stuck sitting on the bathroom counter and waiting for Bill to do what he wants.

Thirty seconds pass while Tom fucks around with the t-shirt, trying to draw out this stage so he doesn’t have to get down to the enema and Georg sees Bill getting …not more cross, but definitely less warm.

“Do you want me to undress you?” Bill gives Tom a long, hard stare.

“What?!”

“I’ve dressed you in the mornings. It’s really not that big a deal to strip you again, Tom.”

“But-"

“Answer the question.” Bill is driving home his authority with that tone. There’s no softness or sweet Bill in there at all.

“No, I don’t want you to strip me!” Tom sounds goddamn horrified, and Georg would laugh if the atmosphere weren’t so serious.

“Then do it yourself. Quickly.” Bill looks calm on the outside, and Georg isn’t sure that it doesn’t continue to inside too, but he knows that Bill is holding up remarkably well. What he just did was calm, confident, in control.

Tom shifts from foot to foot, looking to Georg for a reprieve. He probably wants someone to intervene, to let him off the hook since it’s so ‘horrible’, and ‘undeserved’, and ‘so over the top’, but Georg won’t. This is Bill’s time, and it’s Bill’s rules that are being used now. Georg is only here as a safety net, rather than anything else. Tom’s had this explained to him, several times. On Monday, by Bill when he was put to bed, last night by Gustav during the washing up after dinner, and again this morning,, but apparently, he keeps forgetting. Or wilfully ignoring it, more like, because that’s what Tom does when he doesn’t like something.

“Look at me, Tom.” Bill clicks his fingers, insisting that Tom turn his attention back to the one who’s in control in the room. “I want you to _take off your clothes now._ That’s what I’m telling you to do.”

“Or?” Tom’s used to having options – not necessarily _nice_ options, but he has to choose what to do – be good, or be punished.

“Or you can have a spanking and corner time.” Bill raises an eyebrow. “Your choice.”

Tom actually full on pouts for about five seconds before he catches himself. Georg doesn’t snigger but it’s a damn close thing.

But eventually, Tom makes his choice.

He does start to strip off properly, neatly folding each item of clothing that comes off and laying it on the countertop at Bill’s indication. He doesn’t look pleased about it, but it’s going to happen, and he’s resigned himself to it. Mostly.

It doesn’t last long: that uneasy truce between the twins about Tom being obedient and Bill being in charge.

When he’s down to his boxers, and Bill gives him a look to tell him to hurry up, Tom looks like he’s going to make a break for the door. It’s subtle – you’d have to know Tom to know what to do look for, but he’s gone from being relaxed and loose to being coiled like a spring, ready and willing to do anything to get away.

It would absolutely not surprise Georg because after Sunday's drama with Tom running, he's adjusted his internal view of Tom. Running is now a real possibility, and he will not allow it to get out of hand like that again. He’s ready to leap off the side and wrestle Tom back to the bathroom before he’s even fully conscious of Tom’s likely intention.

On the other hand, Bill doesn’t even flinch as Tom rises up onto his toes, eyeing the door even as he pretends to obey Bill by hooking two fingers into his boxers and pulling the waistband out.

“If you run,” Bill says slowly but clearly, “you will regret it.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“When have I lied to you?” Something in that voice – maybe it’s a twin thing that Georg can’t hear, but it’s _there_ and Tom hears it loud and clear, because it makes him flinch and rock back on his toes.

“But-“

“I advise you to think about the last time you tried to get out of punishment.” Bill raises an eyebrow, and Tom sighs. Dropping his gaze, he’s defeated by that. Georg proved he wasn’t going to let Tom win that kind of fight, and apparently Tom believes that Bill will do the same.

“Drop your boxers, Tom.” Bill eyes Tom steadily. “Now.”

“You’re going to do this, aren’t you?” Tom sighs. “Seriously?”

“Yes.” Bill leans back. “Take off your boxers.”

“I hate this.” Tom pouts again, obviously trying one last ditch effort to make some kind of impact on his twin, but Georg is pleased to see him responding to the stern tone in Bill’s voice, finally. He peels down his boxers with a sigh, folding them before placing them on the side.

“Good boy,” Bill says, warming his tone by just a few degrees. Georg knows that Bill struggles with remembering to focus on the good, not just the bad, forgetting to praise in favour of delivering stinging rebukes. Tom doesn’t respond well to that, needing plenty of praise to help him to get to the right level of submission and passivity that this kind of thing requires.

But maybe Bill is learning.

Tom certainly is, as he follows Bill’s pointed finger to kneel on the floor on the towel, one hand behind his head, the other clutching his bits in a poor attempt at modesty.

“Both hands, Tom.”

“Urgh.” Georg _will_ cure Tom of his habit of vocalising like that – it’s goddamn rude, in his opinion, to be blunt – but that’s a task for another day. Today, he’s pleased to see Tom do what Bill asks, leaving himself exposed. He’s not hard at all, and Georg knows that he’s scared because Tom’s ridiculously easy when it comes to popping wood. Just taking his clothes off is usually enough to make his dick wake up, but now, there’s nothing.

That might change.

Nudity is a thing that’s good for Tom, in Georg’s opinion, even if Tom doesn’t share it. Clothes and coverings shift the power balance at times like this, from even to uneven. Even towels and underwear can give someone a little bit more power, a bit of modesty that lets them act as they want to. Because Tom is not comfortable with being naked around other people, choosing huge baggy jeans and tent like shirts and hoodies to hide behind, he’s even more vulnerable to the power stripping ability of nudity. When he’s naked and exposed, there’s no hiding, and there are no secrets anymore. He has to be honest because his body will give anything away if he’s not.

And that is Bill’s aim now.

Tom looks red-faced, unhappy about exposing himself completely, and Georg doesn’t push him on it by asking what he’s feeling at the moment. Neither Bill nor Georg react to Tom’s nakedness, even if Georg is very impressed with the view.

If Bill has his way, it’ll be much improved in the next few years, though.

Tom doesn’t know it, but maybe he’ll have more to show off down there than just his dick. Some rings, maybe some studs, plenty of precious or semi-precious metal scattered across his body, that’s what he can expect in a few years. Bill’s got plans at the tattoo studio, and they involve needles and a few piercings for Tom. He’s been tossing around the possibilities of rings on Tom’s balls, and Prince Albert’s and even belly button rings as well, just to give him something to tie Tom’s dick up with because it’s just such a pretty image. Even Georg, the king of the Natural Beauty, and Gustav can admit it would be a spectacular sight.

Bill’s got way too much time on his hands if he’s poring over piercing websites like that, but then again, Georg’s placing an order for more sex toys tonight. It’s all relative, he supposes.

But for now, Tom’s got just the one piercing in his lip, and that’s the way it’s going to stay until he turns eighteen. The law is rather strict about that in Germany, and even though Simone gave permission for his first one, Georg highly doubts that she’ll be as eager to sign the paper for a ring in Tom’s dick or a guiche piercing underneath his balls. Not to mention, Tom would _die_ embarrassment if that happened.

“Hands and knees, Tom.” Bill stands up, pulling a pair of purple latex gloves from the box on the side, and picking up the lube beside it. Both items came from Georg’s stash, as did almost everything – Bill took them last night, after doing some research online and watching the video again. It was somewhat sweet to watch him go through Georg’s supplies with a neat list of items that he needed penned into his notebook. Bill’s so very determined to get everything right first time, and Georg really can’t fault him for it.

When you deal with Tom, you don’t get many second chances.

“Oh, _God_.”

“Yep."

Georg leans back and waits.

This should be interesting.

\---

Tom’s barely holding onto his composure, rocking backwards and forwards, one hand gripping the towel under his face, the other buried deep into the ponytail of dreadlocks at the back of his head.

Georg is rather impressed with the whole thing.

He figured that the enema would be a trial for Tom, because of the prospect of it being ‘dirty’, because it was something up his backside when he didn’t even want to explore that aspect of himself during sex yet. But he thought that Tom could cope with it – would hold on through sheer strength of will or bloody mindedness, because that was what Tom did when he was punished. He toughed it out until someone made him to give in.

Boy, was Georg way off the mark.

It’s not because it’s dirty that Tom loathes the enema. It’s not even because it’s something up his backside, even though he squirmed and moaned through Bill’s careful application of lube and stretching Tom just enough to make the nozzle go in without a fight.

Tom hates what Bill is doing to him because of the lack of **control**.

And it’s absolutely awesome to watch him give it up, inch by inch retreating away from Bill’s deft takeover of Tom’s own body.

Bill’s in control of everything inside the bathroom – the flow of the water, the way Tom lies, the fact that Tom is cuffed up (in front of him but even so), the fact that he’s not allowed to get up or call time. He can only ask Bill, who’s keeping a close eye on everything.

All the way through.

“Please, Bill, please, I need – let – I need to –“ _Finishing_ a sentence is hard for Tom as he kneels on the floor, his hands tense, and his backside in the air. “Please, Bill!” That’s been about the only thing Tom has managed to articulate in its entirety since this started, but it’s not having the effect he wanted on his brother.

He wants to be forgiven, for the enema to be taken away, for Bill to give in to his begging and pleading. Not happening.

“Shush…” Bill just strokes along Tom’s back, holding him back and telling him he _can take it,_ that Tom _will make it through_ , that Tom is a _good boy_ , and Bill wants him to stay that way. His voice is soft, softer than Georg expected to be honest, but Tom doesn’t seem to be comforted much by it.

Georg is fascinated by the way that Bill has completely and totally laid waste to any defences or sense of control that Tom once had. He thought that Tom would be rebellious, fighting Bill every step of the way, trying hard to regain control, but Bill’s making sure that doesn’t happen.

And, yeah, Georg admits it. He didn’t think that Bill could do it. Not as well as Gustav or even Georg himself, because he just didn’t have the same experience. Bill’s still a virgin, for God’s sake, completely and utterly new to the real physical world of sex, unlike his brother. The idea that he could control Tom completely – when Tom is naked and exposed and fucking _desperate_ – was… Amusing is the term Georg settles on, because ‘laughable’ is cruel.

But, hey. Georg has been proven wrong before, and this is just another occasion of that.

And just how wrong Georg was is still being demonstrated to him.

“Breathe in, Tom.” Bill’s leaning behind Tom, also on his knees as he waits for Tom to be obedient. Beside him is the plug that Tom will be wearing for the next few minutes, resting on a sterile paper sheet as Bill waits to take out the nozzle for the hose.

The plug is one of Georg’s – fairly small, navy blue, and in Georg’s opinion, quite unthreatening. It’s only about two and a bit fingers wide, tapering to a blunt point. The only thing that makes it unique is the wider base than one might expect to preven it going missing inside someone, but other than that, it’s pretty boring. Tom might disagree; he’s never experienced anal play, as far as Georg knows, so anything toy related probably comes under the label of god awful, but that’s beside the point. The plug glistens in the light from the antibacterial wipes that Bill used to give it a final clean down (for Tom’s own personal limits. He’s a germaphobe about some things) and Georg finds himself quite hypnotised by the play of light on the silicone.

“M- I need – please, Bill!” Tom is panting, his voice cracking, but Bill is very calm. “I can’t!”

“Yes, you can.” Bill doesn’t let Tom get to him, stroking down Tom’s bare and quaking back as he waits for confirmation that Tom is ready for him to take out the nozzle. “Your fifteen minutes don’t start until the plug goes in, Tom, so it’s up to you.”

Oh, that’s _good_. Clear time limits, but it depends on _Tom_ doing as he’s told. Georg is quite sure that Bill could keep this going for a long long time, but he’s left it up to Tom to control when his fifteen minutes actually starts.

Good plan. He nods to Bill, and judging by the head toss Georg gets in return, Bill saw.

They go around and around, Bill and Tom, for a few minutes more, before Georg sees Bill redirect the conversation. It’s dangerous to get stuck in a cycle with Tom because that means they’re not moving forward when they need to be. No matter what happens, he needs to get Tom in the position for his enema, and that sometimes means going ahead even when there’s an apparent obstacle in the road.

Bill reaches for the case of gloves and the lube on the side, and Tom senses that something changed. He’s not _ready_ and from his perspective, Georg can appreciate that he probably thinks that Bill is going to do something bad, like spank him, even though Georg absolutely knows that Bill would _not_ do that. He would never ever punish Tom for being afraid, being nervous about change or new things.

Tom doesn’t like surprises, though. Especially bad ones.

“I can’t.” Tom shakes his head, rising up onto all fours until Bill pushes him back down with a freshly regloved hand. “Please, Bill, I’m…”

“Shush, baby.” Baby? Okay, that’s a new one.

“Bill!”

“Listen to me, Tom.” Bill rests one hand on the small of Tom’s back, the other on Tom’s hip – dangerously close to Tom’s dick, if Georg is judging the distance correctly. Hmm, now that is curious. “There’s two choices now. You can stay there, like you are, or you can accept the plug. But you need to do your fifteen minutes, and they don’t start until the plug is in.”

“God, I – fuck! _Bill_!” That’s almost hysteria in Tom’s voice, but Bill shushes him down almost immediately, stroking down his arms, and using touch to ground him, keep him in the room.

“Whenever you’re ready.”

And then he waits.

Smart Bill.

Georg knows that Bill has three modes. Happy, warm, and affectionate, which Tom has been experiencing the last few days; sad and mopey, which is what he was _before_ this whole discipline thing started, and stone cold determined. Bill’s their front man because of that last one - Bill is the one who people turn to for decisions in the band, and they need someone who will push back against the managers, and the shitty producers, and the myriad of other people they come in contact with in their line of work. It’s served them all well. For all that Bill is still young, and ridiculously flighty a lot of the time, when it comes to things that matter to him – his music, his band, Tom – he’s extremely keen minded, and very bitey. Somewhat scarily so.

Tom’s learnt that the difficult way. As much he proclaims that he is the older twin, and therefore reserves the right to boss Bill around, Georg has definitely noticed that Tom’s no longer able or willing to do that so often. It’s not that he’s giving way to Bill on everything – he can and will dig in deep if he feels passionately enough – but he’s less adversarial with his twin. He’s much less willing to fight on every little thing, no longer needing to use fists or loud words to make Bill agree with him. It’s a big step for him to be much more willing to trust Bill’s opinion or judgement and let differences of opinion be.

From the old twins, who used to use frying pans and black eyes as a method to settle arguments, it’s an improvement.

But the fact remains that nobody will move Bill except Bill when he’s in that state, and at this moment in time, Tom’s coming up hard against it.

“I can’t…” Tom stifles a sob, and Bill responds to it. He shifts closer, pressing himself against Tom’s backside so close that Georg knows there’s nothing between Bill’s jeans and Tom’s naked skin.

Now that’s definitely different.

But Bill is using his physical presence and touch to reassure Tom. “I’m right here, Tom, and I know you can do it,” he says, stroking his hands all over the parts of Tom that he can reach.

“Nrgh…”

Tom is shaking his head, looking stiff and tense, but Bill doesn’t stop because of that. In fact, it spurs him on, because he needs Tom to be ready for the plug to carry on the punishment.

Bill keeps working at keeping Tom calm even as he pulls more and more control away from his brother, and it works. Slowly but surely, Tom gives in to the touches and the soft voice of his brother. The tension oozes out of his back and shoulders, pushed away by Bill’s firm and capable hands. Bill’s learning massage from Natalie, taking lessons on the fly as she gives them to him after concerts or photoshoots, or when she’s operating her little side business as a massage therapist during their down time. Nothing too scientific but Bill is getting good at using his hands to relax and release tension. Georg is seeing those lessons being recreated on Tom.

It’s like Bill has all the time in the world, that’s the impression Georg gets. Even though Tom is panting and fighting to stay down, Bill doesn’t let him up, and keeps working his shoulders and back.

Tom’s pulling himself back together enough to let Bill do what he needs. By relinquishing the tension and relaxing his muscles, he’s giving Bill the chance to take out the nozzle, switch it for the plug. It’s tough; that much Georg can see. He swings his feet as he watches Tom reach out into the furthest reaches of his self-control to clutch at the last remnants of it.

He’s _this_ close to giving in and all it’ll take is a little bit more pressure from Bill.

“Good boy,” Bill praises him, stroking down his back, his thumbs making little circles into the small divots at the base of Tom’s spine. The ones where Georg loves to kiss, to touch, and to watch the water from the shower pool in them for a brief second…  
“I – _fuck!”_

Tom’s barely holding onto whatever he has left to stop himself from falling completely apart. Georg can see it, but his grasp on it is strong enough for Bill to test the resistance to the nozzle and finally find the response he’s looking for.

 

“Breathe in…”

 

\---

 

The plug is now inside of Tom, the nozzle to the enema bag unscrewed from its hose and resting in a bucket of water that Bill’s prepared earlier.

Bill needs to be totally organised during this for it to work. There’s no delaying when you’re dealing with an enema – even a few seconds can mean the difference between a mess and not. Georg is impressed with how quick Bill was though, the nozzle being removed in the same breath that the plug was inserted into Tom. For a guy who can’t play an instrument to save his life, he had very quick hands.

Tom, on the other hand, is still on the floor, was not quick. He barely had time to react when Bill switched out the plug and nozzle, and as soon as it was done, he was allowed to lie down in slow motion, dropping heavily onto the towels, on his side and facing away from Georg. Bill shored him up with rolled up towels along his side and under his belly to help him stay comfortable and lying down. Bill knelt next to him, within easy reach, and Tom capitalised on it, quick as fuck. Georg would be disappointed that he can’t see Tom’s responses, watch the play of emotions across Tom’s very expressive face as he bites his lips, his long lashes fluttering… But from this angle, Georg can see Bill.

And that is far more interesting in some ways.

Tom’s mostly unaware of everything, never mind Georg’s staring, one hand fisted tightly in Bill’s t-shirt, pulling it down, the other near his own collar, two fingers looped around the leather. He’s tense, rocking back and forth gently to alleviate the discomfort, and he keeps whimpering softly.

It’s very different from the same whimpers he makes when Georg is pushing him to hold back, to restrain himself from orgasm, or when Gustav has finished punishing him. It’s needier. Softer. Tom doesn’t sound at all confident, brash, or even his usual self – a little bit of swagger, a lot of bad humour, plenty of awkwardness crossed with happiness – none of that’s present now. Tom sounds like Georg imagined him all those weeks ago when they first talked about introducing the system of punishment and reward.

It’s erotic, it’s submissive, and most of all, it’s instinctive.

Nothing planned, nothing contrived, nothing for a purpose.

He sounds vulnerable. Honestly vulnerable and needy, not demanding or orgasmic, and even though Georg likes it when Tom is moaning and gasping in pleasure, this is somehow _deeper_. More visceral. It’s coming from a place deep inside of him, unthinkingly and without prompting. Which is what Georg (and most likely Bill, too) wanted. And now he’s getting it in bucket loads.

Georg likes it.

It’s making him think things, making him want to touch Tom and test him more, see if he can get more of those noises with kisses or with touches, to see if they’ll be different for him than for Bill. He thinks they would be – not necessarily less but definitely different. Today, the pleasure is Bill’s though, not Georg’s, and as a result, Georg has to content himself with just listening.

And planning for the future.

On the side, a timer ticks away the remaining minutes of Tom’s punishment. Probably not as fast as he would like, but it’s moving, the scarlet second hand moving slowly around the stark monochromatic face.

Tom isn’t allowed to look at the clock – it’s behind him for a reason – and as a result, he’s not looking around the room.

Georg can’t see his face, and he’d like to.

But Bill is kneeling beside Tom, and his expression is strange. Not bad, just…strange. Not what Georg anticipated. Bill’s face is tender, his eyes wide as he caresses Tom’s face, carefully examining every inch of Tom while his brother is unaware. His fingers are gentle though, stroking away the tears that fall from Tom, thumbing the lip ring there absently as he explores Tom’s face…

He looks fascinated. The way he’s touching Tom’s face isn’t brotherly at all, but Georg can’t put his fingers on why he thinks that.

Aside from, you know, the fact that Tom is _naked and holding in an enema_. Small things.

Tom whimpers and rocks and pants. The noise he’s making is loud in the small space of the bathroom, almost too much for the clinically neat and tidy room.

Georg stays quiet.

He’s aware that the twins’ relationship is not conventional at the moment, and that it’s likely to shift even more after this punishment is over.

They have their secrets, their own language, a bond that’s deeper than Georg and Gustav realistically can ever share with anybody, and it shows. Oh God, does it show. It’s written in the way they can talk with just an eyebrow raise, the way that they’re so in tune with each other that they can anticipate everything from music notes to speech long before it’s said or sung… Georg would say it’s telepathic but you know – that doesn’t exist. But it’s all very… close. Very emotionally intimate. It treads a fine line that their fans are already talking about and that’s driving David to distraction because of reasons, but maybe…

Maybe there won’t be a line at all.

Georg doesn’t think that it’ll be completely gone after today, but he can certainly see the potential to see it begin to blur even faster than it has been before.

Previously, when Georg and Gustav pushed Bill on it, he was evasive as to whether he wanted to push his and Tom’s relationship further. He stopped the conversation, didn’t want to play it any further, and the _look_ he gave them told them that pushing him further would make for a very uncomfortable day of the silent treatment later on. They left him alone after that, but Georg was content that they’d planted the seeds of consideration in there.

Tom was the same: embarrassed and confused when Gustav sprung the question on him, dancing around an answer rather than giving anything away, even as Georg pressed him for more. He didn’t want to answer the question, or maybe he _couldn’t_ , because it was so out there for him to process. But Georg sees the way that Tom clings to Bill, the way that he’s not territorial around Bill, but almost… reverential seems the wrong word, but Tom would tie himself up in knots for his younger brother, as long as it _sounded_ like his own idea.

Bill’s ridiculously manipulative, even if he doesn’t seem to be, and Georg doesn’t think that’s going to change.

Tom’s denials hadn’t rung exactly true when Georg suggested moving his and Bill’s relationship closer either, and that had been enough for Georg

Perhaps that was just a phase, or the period of time before something changed between them. The second part of their transition from pure fraternal love to dominance and submission based love has to come soon – for Georg and Gustav, the catalyst was sex. Only time will tell if that’s the same for the twins, but Georg thinks if he asked them again now, a few months after the first time, he’d get a _very_ different answer.

“Shush…” Bill whispers to Tom as he whimpers again.

But it’s very interesting to think about.


	6. Chapter 6

 

 

**Outside in the Garden**

**(and Inside Georg's Head)**

 

  
Georg has left Tom in his bedroom with Bill, the two of them reverting back to eyebrow raises and whispers as Bill helps Tom find some clothes and prepare to sleep for a while.   
  
He needed the rest, honestly.   
  
He managed to complete the whole scene, for which Georg was very proud of him. Even though he moaned and grumbled most of the way through the first part, he did actually finish that particular part of his punishment, and it’s important to note, and to praise him for.   
  
It was hard for him but he did it.   
  
The fifteen minutes passed very slowly but Tom didn’t once ask ‘how long?’ or to get up early. Georg was very very proud of him for that too because honestly, Tom can often get a little bit stuck on asking that. Once the timer rang, Bill got him to expel the water on the toilet while Georg waited outside because at least he could give Tom a little privacy. Also, he _really_ didn’t want to be in there for that.   
  
Gross.   
  
But that final act left Tom completely drained, and there was absolutely no way he could take anything else.  
  
When Georg came back in, Tom was shaking, pale faced, and looked absolutely wrecked. He was clinging onto Bill with both hands, mumbling under his breath as he leant against the side of the bath, absolutely heedless of the fact he was spreading his legs and showing everything off to Georg. Very different to how this whole thing started out. It was so fucking different to see Tom like that – so unaware of how he was behaving, that Georg knew that Tom had gone deep. He was hardly aware of the way Bill was shushing him softly and wiping his face with a cool cloth to get rid of the sweat that shone in the light.   
  
Georg never expected Tom to be so undone by something so simple.   
  
It wasn’t a bad outcome – they had discussed it between themselves, and Medra had gone over the possibility that it would affect Tom deeply. She encouraged Bill, Georg, and Gustav to come up with plans to deal with it and they’d written up contingency solutions that she approved of.   
  
Some subs come out of an enema pretty much the same way they went in, and some came out crying in relief. Others, like Tom, go somewhere deep inside themselves, drifting on the sensation and the emotions that the enema caused. They don’t need rescuing, but they need to be guided back to reality carefully and considerately. And they need someone to be close to when they get there for reassurance and affirmation that they did well, and that nothing went wrong.   
  
Tom does that occasionally, getting lost deep inside of himself. He goes somewhere way off in his own head, outside of the reach of Georg or Gustav, and even Bill, with his magic twin bond, somewhere far beyond his usual sphere of existence during day to day life. Usually, it’s just for two or three minutes, during or after sex or orgasm when it’s been particularly intense, but Medra’s warned them it could happen more often, and at different times than they expect as Tom grows used to it. There’s not an exact science to it but apparently, it gets easier to find that place again the more you go there, and Tom’s going to be spending a lot of time in that zone if Georg has his way.   
  
It’s not easy to spot – this is why a top for Tom has to be alert all the time even if that means having eyes in the back of your head – because it can happen at the drop of the hat.   
  
The first time it happened to Tom in Georg’s care, Georg had one hand around his dick, urging Tom to relax and let his second orgasm in twenty minutes happen, let Georg take him over the edge again. Tom had begged, had pleaded, had almost cried in searching for relief but it wasn’t until he was almost at orgasm that he fell off the edge into subspace. If Georg hadn’t been looking at Tom’s face at that exact moment… he would have missed it.  
  
He was still interested, still pushing his hips forward in Georg’s hands, still calling out in response to Georg’s encouragements but he was just… different. His eyes weren’t focused on Georg’s hands, he wasn’t in the room mentally at the same time that he was bodily. He was just off a little bit, but it was definitely scary for Georg.   
  
His orgasm was _very_ intense; silent at the same time it was physical, which threw Georg completely. Everything about Tom shut down as his fists clenched in the pillow behind his head, arching his own body up and away from the mattress in a perfect bow. His eyes were shut tight, his lips parted in a silent call.   
  
It was beautiful.   
  
And it was terrifying because holy shit, Georg had never expected anything like that.   
  
On the flip side of the intensity of the orgasm though, the come down on the other side was also much much stronger. He needed more hugs, more blankets, more time with Georg to get him back to an even keel. After a usual session, Tom took maybe an hour _at most_ to come back to himself.   
  
After his first drop into subspace, Georg hadn’t been able to leave Tom’s side all night but, in all honesty, he hadn’t tried that hard. He was just as thrown as Tom in some ways, needing the physical reassurance as much as his partner did.   
  
Seeing someone go off somewhere inside their own head even though they were still in the room, go from being enthusiastic and noisy to silent and still like a work of art was definitely something Georg had had little experience with at time.   
  
Even now, after plenty of research and a few more occasions when Tom’s experienced it, it’s still novel to them all.   
  
It’s subspace, as Medra called it, and she had them all do their homework on it because it’s a very important part of being submissive – getting to that particular state of mind can be hard but is well worth the effort for both parties. It’s also very individual – no subs have the all the same kind of triggers to get them to the point of no return, and people experience it in different ways – pain, particular words, being held or touched in a particular way. Some subs can still respond like normal, others, like Tom, shut down completely. It’s all variable.   
  
They’re still learning Tom’s triggers through trial and error, and Georg is well aware that it’ll take time and energy to get to the point where they know them all. So far, the only concrete way Georg has found to make Tom find his subspace is overloading him with sensations but that’s a hit or miss event. Some days Tom can take much more than others, and there’s no way to tell what kind day it’ll be on the surface.   
  
They’ll have a lot of good times to get there and figure him out, though.   
  
But this time, after the enema, Tom went deep, and he needed time and help to get him back. Bill was still in charge, though, and he called the shots for both Georg and Tom.   
  
Even though they’d decided before this all started that Tom should have a shower immediately afterwards, that plan went out the window once they realised how deep Tom was. Georg helped Bill to guide Tom into his bedroom, wrapping him in another towel in case of accidents before they left the bathroom, and taking time for Tom to work out how to put one foot in front of the other again.   
  
From the bathroom, to Bill’s room, it took a long time, but Georg doesn’t know how long.   
  
Bill took away the clock on the bedside table, and the one above the door too, and Tom no longer has access to a watch because he’s prone to clock watching when he’s on punishment. It means he sits and stares at the clock or at the numbers ticking down on his phone, focusing on just that to the exclusion of all else. It’s not good for him – they all agree on that. Focusing like that gets Tom stuck inside his own head when he shouldn’t be and so they’ve come up with a solution to deal with it.   
  
Taking away the object of his focus.   
  
It’s a conscious act to keep Tom in the here and now, started out of desperation but now that it’s been going for a few weeks, Georg has noticed the improvement. Ever since they started doing that, Tom’s become much more trusting to let them lead him – because he doesn’t know when his punishment ends, he has to trust them to know for him. Instead of leaping up from the corner or the sofa when the clock hits time, he waits someone to come and get him.   
  
Even if they’re technically late.   
  
Part of that was a deliberate attempt to see if Tom knew that Georg was late, and part of it was a complete lack of concentration on Georg’s part, but Tom never knew. He just trusted Georg to come and get him when time was up.   
  
Georg has only done that twice, too. He’s learnt to be more on the ball.   
  
Once they start touring again, Georg is planning on creating more changes there too – like covering the clocks in the tour bus, for a start. It’s going to be interested to explain that to the roadie crew but it’s a discussion for another day.   
  
Once inside the bedroom, it was ridiculously sweet to see Bill attend to his brother in everyway. From his position on the desk chair, Georg had a prime view of the twins, watching Bill help Tom climb into some sweats, smoothing the duvet down so he could curl up next to Tom on top of the duvet as he drifted off. As sweet as it was, Georg knew it was a serious time too – the way that Tom clung to Bill’s shirt, and the way that he whimpered in fear of abandonment when Bill left to go and shut the bedroom door, meant that it was also very difficult for Tom to process.   
  
It’ll definitely need discussing tonight after dinner.   
  
But now, half an hour after he shut the door to Bill’s room behind him, Georg has done nothing particularly productive.   
  
He could be going downstairs, cleaning up the lunch stuff, or cleaning his room or even just going over some more bass tracks in the studio for his lesson in a few days’ time, but he doesn’t want to. That’s boring and trite. Something inside him is restless, and he needs to do something other than cleaning or practising his guitar because he does that _every damn day_.   
  
Instead, Georg is on the hunt for Gustav.   
  
When in doubt of something, that’s where Georg turns. And right now, after what he just witnessed in the bathroom, it’s what he needs. A good discussion with his partner.   
  
It’s in the garden that Georg finds him, sitting on one of the deck chairs, reading, even though it’s like four degrees. It’s a Gustav thing. He likes the outdoors in all weathers, even when the twins are shivering and complaining _inside_ the house, and Georg is still cold outside when he’s wrapped up like a mummy in scarf, coat, and gloves. Sometimes, Georg thinks Gustav more than lives up to the Russian part of his heritage.   
  
Gustav’s wearing just a jacket and a scarf, and he looks right at home. Typical.  
  
“Hey.”  
  
“Hi.” Georg doesn’t even startle Gustav; he just looks up with that expression that says he knew that Georg was coming. He probably did. Georg is no ninja, and Gustav has a preternatural awareness of his surroundings. When Georg doesn’t make to move away, Gustav puts down his book – another secret spy novel – and turns to face him. “How was it?”  
  
He’s probably been wondering that for a while. Georg had said _see you later_ to Gustav over two hours ago, just before he’d left to go and cuff up Tom to deliver him to the bathroom, and since then, Gustav has made himself conspicuously scarce. Probably to try to give Bill less to worry about – performance anxiety and such being a fucking killer when you’re trying to discipline someone.  
  
“Can I sit?”   
  
“Go ahead.”   
  
Brushing off the dead leaves on the seat of the wooden chair, Georg considers his choice of words and settles on, “Interesting.”  
  
“Oh?”  
  
“Bill was better at holding Tom than I thought.” Georg slumps in the chair, putting his feet up on the low table in front of him. He knows he’s being deliberately obtuse because Gustav wants something different, but he can’t just come out and _say_ what’s bothering him. He has to work his way up to it.  
  
“That’s not what we expected.” Gustav looks like he’s carefully considering that. “What happened?”  
  
Georg explains why it was actually a success. The way that Bill held Tom quite well in his submission, the way that Tom went down and stayed down for Bill, the fact that although it was tough, and obviously not something that both the twins were experienced with, it still worked out. It still happened. It wasn’t perfect but it was _nowhere_ near the disaster that Georg has been expecting.  
  
Enemas could be very difficult to deal with, Georg has learned, and Medra counselled him on that very very seriously. Said counselling was also passed onto Bill through Georg afterwards, and they all did some research on the ‘net too.   
  
There’s a lot to consider – from a technical point of view and an emotional one. It’s about the amount of water and additives in the liquid, the size of the nozzle, the way that Tom lies on the floor and that he’s relaxed and stuff – all the technicalities that Bill can control and dictate to Tom. But it’s also about Tom being emotionally ready to give up control, that he’s braced and ready for the water, that he understands how this works, and that Bill is in charge. That much Bill can’t control.   
  
It’s a big undertaking.  
  
But it worked out. Tom got his enema, and Bill was able to keep Tom under control, and Georg’s help wasn’t required. At all.  
  
“Do you think that it’s a fluke?” Gustav is very logical about things like this, but Georg shakes his head.  
  
“No. The way that Bill seemed to just click with the whole thing,” and he did; he wasn’t right at home – he made a few mistakes and stuff – but Georg knows that it could have been a hundred times worse, “tells me that it’s not a fluke. Bill was able to do that because _he wanted to_. Not by accident.”  
  
“But?”  
  
“What do you mean, _but_?” Georg tries to avoid Gustav’s gaze, but it doesn’t work.  
  
“Something else is bothering you…”  
  
“Nergh. Yes.” Georg sinks lower in his chair, breathes in the damp air that tastes like autumn and the promise of frost tonight. He sighs. It’s not going to go down well when he says what’s bothering him, but he needs to grow a pair of balls and spit it out. “I think the twins might be… Shifting. In their relationship.”  
  
“Getting closer?” Oh, fuck off, Gustav. He got right to the point when Georg was perfectly happy dancing around it.  
“Yes.”  
  
“Is that a problem?” Gustav looks calm, perfectly at ease with the conversation at hand, and Georg doesn’t understand how Gustav can be so calm about this when he’s turning himself into a fucking mental pretzel about it.   
  
“I don’t know.”  
  
Georg doesn’t know. On the one hand, it’s incest. It’s two brothers moving from fraternal to sexual love, and Georg could write reams about the psychological implications of that. Bill and Tom might not go all the way, they might not move into the whole sphere of marriage and babies and everything else – in fact, Georg is pretty sure they _won’t_ – but it’s physical. It’s sexual. It’s technically **illegal**.  
  
Then again, it’s the twins.  
  
And even though Georg doesn’t like giving them a pass because of that fact; they shouldn’t get a fucking pass on everything just because they happen to have identical DNA, even if the fans seem to think that it’s enough… The fact remains that there’s just something _there_.  
  
The way they connect seems to be different from everybody else. The way that they’re emotionally intimate, so close that they could quite feasibly be one person sometimes. They can talk with one voice, share a conversation without words, answer for each other without issue.   
  
And it’s physical too. They’re right there, right inside of each other’s personal space without a care in the world, and when they were younger, they thought nothing of holding hands, sharing beds, kissing on cheeks and sharing food.   
  
The twins are the only people Georg has ever known to share plates at dinner or a single water cup when there’s not enough to go around. It didn’t even bother them – everything was passed around between the two of them fairly, and Georg watched in amazement as they mastered the use of a single set cutlery with one cutting with the knife and the other holding the fork.   
  
It takes some degree of dexterity and co-operation to do that, and he _knows_ because he’s read the literature on it.   
  
But the twins don’t seem to care.   
  
They often seem to treat everything as _ours_ as opposed to _mine and yours._   
  
It’s not all the time with everything equally shared – Bill will castrate Tom if he tries to fuck with his make up, and Tom would pitch the biggest shit fit ever if Bill wrecked his cap collection – but things like their DVDs, their water bottles, their food in the fridge, it’s all _theirs_ together. It doesn’t matter who paid for it, or who went out and got it – it belongs to both of them.   
  
It seems to Georg that the twins have always pushed boundaries and rules whenever they could.  
  
Why should incest laws and social expectations be any different?  
  
It’s more than that, though, and Georg hates to admit it.   
  
Because it’s _shallow_. It’s objectifying, and he hates that his brain thinks that way but it’s true.   
  
Georg can honestly admit that it would be hot to see the twins together. It would be seriously, completely, and absolutely raw, scorching hot kind of awesome sex, and he’d totally buy tickets to watch bedside if he could.  
  
It’s not as though the twins aren’t hot in and of themselves, either. Bill’s got his own form of sexuality, even though he’s still a technical virgin, that he can choose to turn on or off when he pleases. Georg says technical, because ,seriously, Bill’s browsing history is raunchy to say the least, and he’s not above exploring or asking the kind of questions that make Georg think that he’s got his own toy collection that he just hasn’t told anyone about.   
  
It wouldn’t surprise him, put it that way.   
  
Tom isn’t a virgin either, and Georg has had first-hand experience with the way that Tom can be ridiculously demanding in bed, or the way he can be absolutely pliant and obedient and willing to do anything for the one who’s leading him, depending on his mood. His experience doesn’t extend toward men, but Tom is always willing to try. Tom’s rawness and readiness to please in bed as well as his insatiable appetite for more and better would definitely be something else when it’s put against Bill.  
  
And Georg knows he would honestly sell his left arm to see it. Bill’s first time with Tom (with anyone, but that’s beside the point) would be so fucking amazing, and there’s absolutely no doubt in his mind that once it started, once that first barrier came down, they wouldn’t be able to stop.  
  
And Georg wouldn’t be able or willing to stop them either. He would be lost by that point.  
  
And it’s not like Georg can talk. He also freely admits he has twin porn in his own collection – mostly female on female, but there are a few male twins or threesomes in there as well, just for the sake of variety. And he’s watched them too – a lot, if he’s honest.   
  
Georg never claimed to not be a hypocrite.  
  
“Do you think they’d have sex together?” Gustav listened to Georg’s messy, confused explanations of his feelings without comment, and it’s only now that Georg is quiet again, that he chooses to talk.   
  
“Yes.” Bill wouldn’t let the final frontier, as it were, go unexplored, and Georg knows that once the twins let go, and give themselves permissions to explore, they won’t stop. Nothing would be able to make them do that because those two are born hedonists. Pleasure is the highest pinnacle for them and achieving it is their ultimate goal. Stand in their way, and well… Let’s just say Georg has learnt his lesson there.   
  
David hasn’t, though.  
  
“Why is it a problem for you?” Gustav brings Georg back from musing.   
  
It’s more than it _should_ be a problem, but it isn’t.   
  
Not really, when Georg is honest with himself. Georg has a lot of arguments he _should_ be using to tell them to separate and not go that far, a lot of reasons why it’s a bad idea and everybody should just forget about it. But it’s not a bad idea when he thinks about it, and he doesn’t want everybody to forget about it. He doesn’t want to tell the twins to stop.  
  
“Well done, Georg.” Gustav snorts. “You’ve managed to completely twist yourself up about something that doesn’t even involve you. Directly, at least.”  
  
Oh, fuck Gustav. Georg is having a crisis of epic proportions, and Gustav laughs about it. Bastard.  
  
“You seem remarkably unconcerned,” Georg snipes back.   
  
“I’ve come to terms with the fact that Bill takes rules to be a personal affront, and Tom is very easy to convince of anything.” Gustav shrugs. “I refuse to tie myself up in knots when I know that the twins would take that as even more reason to do it.”  
  
Logical. But infuriating. “What happens if they fall in love?” Georg throws it out there, wondering what will happen if the twins get even more soul-mate-y than they are now.  
  
“…Uh… What more can they do?” Gustav rolls his eyes. “They have the same last name, they have the same address, and they’re already planning to live together after they turn eighteen. Bill doesn’t want kids and neither does Tom. That’s basically marriage without the paperwork.”  
  
“You’re not taking this seriously.”  
  
“You’re overthinking it,” Gustav counters. “The twins have managed to keep a borderline inappropriate relationship going for years.” He shrugs. “What do you think will happen if they change it up?”  
  
“True. And I don’t know.” The twins have shared a bed for a long time, trading touches and kisses that last a little too long, glances that say more than they’re consciously aware of for as long as Georg and Gustav have known them, really. A thin veneer of brotherhood over a deep well of something weird and outside of Georg’s comfort zone.  
  
Not outside of his horny mind’s purview, though.  
  
“So, what do we do?” Georg throws his hands up in the air, throwing himself back in the chair. “Let them get on with it?”  
  
“You thought anything else would work?”  
  
“Fuck you, Gustav.”  
  
There’s a smirk on Gustav’s face, but he politely swallows it down. “I think that provided we make the twins keep it under wraps, and just kind of downplay it in the public sphere… It won’t be a problem. Right now, it’s not going to hurt their relationship, or ours with them.”  
  
Too fucking right it won’t hurt their relationship with Georg and Gustav. It would be an erotic dream come true. “And if it does?”  
  
“Then we reassess. But why fix what ain’t broken?” Gustav sighs. “It’s very easy to speculate. But you know…"  
  
“Yeah.” Georg does know. They should deal with facts, with empirical proof, and just let it roll from there.  
  
“Look at this way.” Gustav holds his hands out. “Our relationship with both twins – and especially with Tom – with this dominance and submission thing, collars and chains, that’s not exactly cutesy sweet romance or _norma_ l is it?”  
  
“No.” Georg sighs. It’s not. A foursome relationship is unusual for one night – never mind keeping it rolling for weeks at a time. Throw in bondage and discipline, and rules like they have, and it’s rare as fuck.   
  
“So we would keep it under wraps, and work hard at it, because if it fails, the band fails, right?”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“Why won’t you give the twins the same, then?”  
  
“….I’m an asshole.”  
  
“No, you’re reading from society’s hymn book, instead of the Tokio Hotel one. Stop being a good little Catholic boy, and be Georg.”  
  
“You make it sound so easy.”  
  
“It is. I did it.”  
  
Gustav still goes to church with his mother on Sunday when he’s home, and has a rosary in the box in his room, unlike Georg who left his own at his Mother’s and refuses to go into a church. Church wasn’t something that interested Georg, and once he started playing around with the band, focusing on sex and pleasure away from the whole _wait until marriage_ thing that his old priest advocated…  
  
It was never going to happen, in his opinion.  
  
Georg likes sex, and pleasure, and he doesn’t care who it’s with. He enjoys games which put balances of power out of whack, and he really can dig sex with another guy. Or two guys. Or two guys and a girl, because Georg is as flexible as they come when it comes to jumping in and out of bed.  
  
It’s pretty awesome in his opinion.  
  
But Catholic guilt never really goes away, and he can’t shrug it off like Gustav does. Gustav is happy to roll in pleasure and sex because it’s what feels good, drink and fuck until the early hours of the morning, and then go to church the next day without a care in the world.   
  
Well. He used to. Ever since they turned Tom’s life around, that kind of lifestyle is off limits for them all but even so.   
  
Georg can’t compartmentalise that way. He’s not built that way and it makes him feel guilty that he still can’t divide what he _wants_ from what he knows is right, completely even though what he knows is right might actually not be. Society's morals don't necessarily reflect the truth, and all that.   
  
Gustav stares at him for a few moments longer, and Georg feels uncomfortable. There’s something in Gustav’s eyes, something’s that tells Georg his secrets are not so well hidden. But all too soon, the moment passes, and Georg is left to look away and breathe deeply.  
  
Man, he hates it when Gustav does that.  
  
Gustav, on the other hand, seems mostly unperturbed by the incident. “If you don’t mind?” Gustav hooks two fingers into his book, making to turn it over and start reading.  
  
“Mmm.” Georg slumps down in his chair a little more. “Can I stay out here with you?”  
  
There’s no answer. Gustav’s already lost in his book. Leaving Georg alone with his thoughts.   
  
Wonderful.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Chastity belts, emotional distress, discussion of strap ons.

  
**Break Point** _  
_   


_“Oh.”_

Tom looks deeply unimpressed, to the point of looking positively revolted by the thing in Georg’s hands, but it’s a testament to his own increased sense of self control that he doesn’t kick off. He’s improving in his ability to restrain himself, no longer as impulsive as he was at the start of this punishment, and Georg approves.

It’s been a week to the day since Tom’s first enema, eleven days since that horrible day when Tom was given his first red card, and progress has been made, across the board for Tom. Significant amounts too when it comes to his emotional restraint, and his ability to keep everything on an even keel by himself.

Like just now.

Georg is pleased with Tom’s reaction, and he rewards him with a smile.

Soft rewards, smiles, praises, touches, are just as valuable as hard ones like jewellery, or video games. Georg is learning the importance of that lesson. They might be less expensive in terms of money but Tom loves them just as much, if not more. They’re easy to give but mean the world to him.

And Georg understands why Tom needs that reward. It would be easy for Tom to do it, Georg knows, so easy to give into the feelings that he’s experiencing and go off like a goddamn firework, but he doesn’t.

Not that Georg would tolerate it, but he’s pretty sure that Tom would give him a damn good run for his money when it came to battle for the upper hand. That’s Tom all the way through. He doesn’t _let_ someone win if he’s decided to fight. He will go on fighting to the bitter end, kicking and screaming against the punishment and damn the consequences anyway. Georg has been there, done that, and bought the t-shirt. It’s beyond uncool, and he’s grateful that Tom is not going to do that today.

Instead, Georg lays the object of Tom’s disturbance on the bed along with the box of antibacterial wipes on top of a towel, and waits for Tom to stop staring at the items.

It takes a minute or two. Very long minutes. Only when Tom looks back at Georg again, does Georg speak.

Tom is already shirtless, having stripped it off at Georg’s order a few minutes ago, and he’s barefoot as usual while he’s on punishment, the collar around his neck, but there’s one thing still left to come off.

“Drop ‘em.”

“Urgh, fuck.”

But, to his credit again, Tom is obedient.

Still looking less than impressed, Tom hooks two fingers into the side of his sweatpants and drops them without complaint, which surprises Georg. Even though he’s now naked, and exposed to Georg’s gaze, Tom didn’t even think twice about obeying Georg, which is a big improvement. Maybe it’s the threat of what’s on the bed, or maybe it’s just because he’s learning to deal with getting orders and following them.

Hoping it’s the latter, Georg suspects it’s the former.

 Georg told Bill to leave out the underwear this morning when he laid out Tom’s clothes for him for exactly this reason, and consequently, Tom knew something was up because of it. Normally he had at least one pair of underwear, two if they’re going out of the house and there’s a danger of low hanging pants hitting the floor.

As in, **always** , when it comes to Tom’s jeans.

Ever since that point, life with Tom has been interesting.

All day, since Gustav got him up and dressed this morning, Tom’s been jumpy and kind of nervous. Not excessively, and not to the point where Georg felt the need to physically yank Tom back down to earth with a stint in the corner or a discussion. He was just… more than usual. More fidgety, more stuttery, more flighty than he usually was on a day to day basis, and it carried on all the way through breakfast, into his guitar practise, and well into the afternoon, where Georg made him have a shower, and a rest in his room.

He didn’t sleep – Georg had hoped he would to take the edge of his nerves if he did but it was a no go – but he did rest on his bed, which was better than nothing.

Georg went to retrieve him ten minutes ago, and so far, all Tom’s managed to do is practically vibrate in place and not actually finish a sentence.

It’s kind of strange how one little change – the lack of underwear – can completely throw Tom’s internal balances off completely, make him confused and dependent on Georg, Bill, and Gustav more than he’s ever been before.

But Georg has to focus elsewhere, at the moment.

Tom has never worn a chastity belt – ever – or any other kind of device. Before this whole red card, foursome relationship started, Georg doesn’t think that Tom even knew they existed outside the realms of popular culture history.

 In the last eleven weeks, Georg hasn’t introduced them to the relationship, either.

It’s partly through personally choice because they’re _his_ and _his toys alone,_ and he didn’t feel the need or desire to share them before _he_ was ready, and partly because Georg has never seen a reason to apply them until now.

Chastity belts and devices are challenging for most subs – for Tom, who values free access to his own genitals above all else, who finds mandated celibacy _without_ a chastity device ridiculously difficult to comply with on a mental level, and who has a rather high sex drive, they are pretty much the worst thing in the world. _Ever._

That doesn’t mean that Tom’s ignorant (now) of the fact that Georg is a purveyor of all kinds of sexual aides, though. Tom’s known _about_ Georg’s extensive toy collectionfor about as long as they’ve been in this kind of relationship.

At the very beginning, a few days after Tom got the rules and said _yes_ to them, Georg took him by the hand, and brought him to his bedroom. Without words, just knowing that Tom had to trust him to know what he was doing, that was how he did it.

 In an old wardrobe in the corner of his room, that’s where Georg keeps his collection of toys, devices, and kinky _things._ It’s a big collection and he knows that maybe it’s starting to become a _thing_ for him but who the fuck cares. He’s kept it secure, behind a padlocked door, and the only people who know about it are Bill, Gustav, and Tom.

But Tom had never been allowed to see them before that point when they had a confirmed relationship.

Georg had always kept the door to the wardrobe shut and locked, never discussing the contents of the many parcels or shopping bags that were spirited away into his bedroom with Tom because it was none of his business. Before the beginning of the relationship, Tom had no idea of the _concept_ of the collection, never mind the breadth or the depth it, and that was the way it should have been.

Until the relationship between them moved from friends to _more._

It had taken them confirming the relationship though for Tom to be finally allowed to see the extensive collection because there was no way on earth Georg would reveal something so personal to someone who was not intimately involved with him. There’re just some things friends don’t show each other.

Of course, he didn’t show everything.  

Some things are supposed to be secret for a reason.

But Georg laid out his collection of restraints on the bed, letting Tom touch the cold metal of the chains, the softness of the silk ropes, and test the give of the leather cuffs because that’s how Tom learns. He has to touch it, to hold it and play with it to understand it. He let Tom pull on the knots, showed him how it would feel around his wrist or neck so he would understand the reasoning behind its presence in Georg’s collection.

It was a deeply personal thing for Georg, laying out such intimate items and allowing Tom to ask questions, to watch him engage with items that so far, Georg had only dreamed of showing him.

Tom had asked questions and Georg approved. He was holding onto a cuff when he asked the first one, and it snowballed from there. He asked Georg how it was unlocked, he asked Georg about knots and ties of the ropes over the bedposts, and how quick release knots worked, and Georg answered.

Questions are good, questions are _important._ Chains and ropes are fun to have in the bedroom, they’re interesting and create new sensations and can add intensity to a scene or to sex, but conversely, they also bring risk. It’s dangerous – wrongly applied ropes or chains can cut off circulation, they cause pain, and if someone needs to be cut free quickly, they can be awkward or difficult to undo.

So Tom asking those questions meant Georg could open up about that side of it too, and Tom nodded when he got the responses back. Maybe they weren’t the answers he wanted but Georg is honest.

After the chains and the ropes were put away, neatly hung or coiled in their set places in the closet, Georg got out his absolute _favourite_ thing in the world.

Out of the cupboard came boxes and boxes of the toys, the plugs, and the dildos, the vibrators, and the strap-ons (what? Georg has experimented sometimes). Although Tom didn’t _want_ to touch those, Georg explained the difference between the many kinds of toys; let Tom look at the kind of sizes and shapes that Georg liked and what women liked, and what men liked.

He didn’t play up one part of the collection more than another, both as a conscious decision to keep it relaxed and also because he wanted to see where Tom’s attention was drawn. Tom hadn’t discussed toys when he was trying to lay out what he did or didn’t like in the bedroom but that didn’t mean he hated them. For Tom, who’d never really experimented in the bedroom, it probably never occurred to him to even go there.

It wouldn’t be for sure but it would definitely provide an insight into where Tom’s interests lay, or what he was hoping to explore even on a subconscious level.

Georg got his wish. And _how._

In the end, Georg was pretty sure that it was destiny for Tom to be drawn to the one thing in his collection that switched up power dynamics between men and women. It was something about the way that he kept coming back to them just told Georg what Tom was feeling, something about the way he just wouldn’t settle on the butt plugs, or the enema kits – on the contrary, he actively avoided those – but he came back _over and over_ to the objects of his fascination.

He was somewhat unwillingly drawn to Georg’s stash of strap-ons, his hand reaching out to stroke the different harnesses when he thought that Georg couldn’t see him; touching the leather and chains, or the rivets joining the material together. He even went as far as tilting them to look at the slots in the harness to mount a vibrator or a dildo for the woman wearing once Georg explained what they were for, mouthing something as Georg showed him the different phallus attachments for the front of it.

They were big. But Tom didn’t flinch.

Brave boy.

He didn’t ask about them, and Georg didn’t linger on them when he was explaining them but he saw how Tom bit his lip, how he turned just a shade redder when Georg showed how they’d be used and that was it. Georg knew that Tom was lost on them, that he was definitely intrigued and they’d need to set up something for him to try it out.

Sometime in the future, Georg is going to _have_ to let Tom try pegging.

Maybe as an eighteenth birthday present.

Part of Georg’s motives in breaking out the toy collection was just to educate Tom about pleasure and sex. To let him know that toys weren’t just for women, that they could be fun for men too, and they came in all different shapes and sizes for every purpose. Georg likes that about toys – they can be for anybody, no matter what their anatomy, gender, sex, or age, even people with non-traditional anatomy can use toys, and that’s a wonderful thing.

It was also to make Tom feel less weirded out by having sexual desires that he had had to confess when they were working out the rules. He had to spill his guts to Bill, and Bill had to tell the others about what Tom liked and didn’t like and what he needed in a relationship, which included what he liked between the sheets. The list was then and still is now being added too as Tom confesses more and more.

 But, while Georg appreciated the fact that Tom _was_ honest and that he didn’t hide things, the fact remained that it wasn’t a completely equal request. Whereas Tom was laid bare, stripped of privacy and the ability to keep secrets, Georg and the others were not. It created a huge imbalance that wasn’t okay in the relationship for Georg, and he wanted to reset it by revealing that _he too_ also had kink in him, that he liked things that were different too. That Tom wasn’t the only one who liked things that were a little outside mainstream or a bit _kinky_.

And of course, part of it was also to intimidate Tom, and to remind him that whatever he bragged and boasted, Georg had two and a half years in age, and a mile of experience on him. It was to show him that whatever he did inside or outside the bedroom, Georg had the equipment and the skill to restrain or punish or to give pleasure, no matter what Tom said or did to him.

It worked. Tom looked thoroughly cowed at the site of the rows of riding crops and paddles, and even the canes. He definitely didn’t want to touch when Georg brought those out of the cupboard, demonstrating the swish that usually ended with a crack over someone’s backside.

Georg would never just spring them on him but it definitely made Tom think twice which is exactly what Georg intended. Sometimes, it’s not about actually using the objects in the cupboard – the mere _thought_ of them should be enough to stop Tom in his tracks.

To that end, he also showed off his collection of chastity devices. And that was _an extensive_ collection.

On the middle shelf of his wardrobe, Georg had laid them all out individually, and he’d let Tom see them all. The cages, the straps, and ropes that could be turned into short term restraints, and then the bigger, more serious belts that Georg has acquired through his two years and change of collecting toys.  There had been a wide representation across the spectrum of expense and effort. And Georg had left him in no doubt, that he would probably use them on Tom at some point.

For ten weeks, Tom’s been wondering when that will happen.

Probably never thought Georg would actually do it, though, because that’s what Tom does. If he doesn’t like something, he avoids even thinking about it, and no doubt, he thought the same of Georg.

How wrong he was.

Today, Georg selected the chastity device on the bed specifically, even though he thinks it is the _worst_ one that he possesses. It’s the belt, the worst one of the three that Georg owns.

It’s a big bit of kit, not to mention expensive. It cost a sweet three hundred and six euro because it had to be handmade, pieced together to Tom’s specifications, even though it looks deceptively simple.

It’s made of a wide flat panel in the front with a hollowed out tube for Tom’s dick to sit in, and a cup for his balls, and the panel is edged in rubber to prevent it from cutting into his skin. The flip side of that is that everything else kept well off limits for him. Not even a finger could pass between the edge of the belt and Tom’s skin, which means no touching. The leather and metal straps that go across his hips and between his legs are nicely padded to prevent pinching or hurting, but the thing is pretty immovable and unpleasant.

Georg did debate starting smaller.

The three cages that still languish in the cupboard are made of plastic or metal, but they just fit neatly around Tom’s dick, preventing him from touching it.

They’re either held in place with a pin or with a padlock, but generally – and Georg has worn one for a whole week out of curiosity – they’re pretty ignorable. The plastic ones in particular are light, and as long as nobody tried to make him pop wood, by the end of the day, Georg basically forgot about wearing it. It wasn’t that bad.

The belt is much less easy to ignore.

It’s not nice, it’s not a gentle introduction to chastity, and it’s definitely not easy to deal with, but Georg decided, with the help of Gustav and Bill’s input, that it’s much better to start big, show Tom the very worst of the worst, and let him understand that it can get better from there. Good behaviour, obedience, and trust that they know what they’re doing will get Tom released from the belt – nothing else.

So, all things considered, it’s going to be the norm for Tom until his red card expires.

“On the towel.” Georg has laid another towel on the floor – not because he expects any leaks or drips from anything, but because it gives Tom a clear place to stand and not move from. That’s the kind of thing Georg can do for Tom to give him clear boundaries rather than the vague _don’t move._

Tom likes clear guidelines, and so does Georg.

Watching Tom shuffle into place, Georg has a feeling that this will take a while. Maybe a long while. He has to wait for Tom to settle, to stop rocking from foot to foot, leaving his hands on his head the way Georg has instructed him rather than trying to cover up his groin. It’s not like Georg hasn’t seen it before, but he waits. It’s Tom’s decision when Georg can move in, but the belt is _not_ going away.

Tom will walk out of this room wearing it.

Georg has promised himself that much.

“Hands behind your head.”

It takes time. A lot of time. About seven minutes according to Georg’s watch, but it feels like forever and a day in his mind. He’s waiting for Tom to move to the right position that Georg has taught him, but Tom can’t seem to get over it. He’s clenching his fists, rocking on his feet, looking like he half wants to do it before backing away.

But all Georg offers is time. He won’t yell, he won’t spank Tom; he’ll just wait for him to do the right thing.

Like he has all the time in the world.

Georg doesn’t want to fight Tom on this, he doesn’t want to have to tie him up or get Gustav in here to help restrain Tom while the belt goes on. All that would do is make Tom fight more, would make it a traumatic, scary experience and that’s not what this is supposed to be.

It is supposed to be hard, it is supposed to be a challenge for Tom, but it’s not supposed to decimate him physically. It’s a mental challenge that Georg has set for Tom today.

 Tom has to be submissive of his own volition, recognising that Georg is in control, and all he has to do is give in.

In the end, Tom does do it. He stands and raises his hands to his hand, threading his fingers between his dreadlocks so he won’t be tempted to move them again later on, breathing deeply as he shuts his eyes.

“Good boy,” is his reward.

The short, sharp nod that Georg gets in acknowledgement tells him that Tom heard. But it’s time for bigger things.

Georg takes his time placing everything on the floor just so before kneeling next to them. The belt goes on a sterile sheet, the single packets of antibacterial wipes next to it in a neat pile, the pins to hold it together without the padlock laid out in a row. He doesn’t hurry, checking and rechecking his supplies, because he understands the need for Tom to process each stage rather than just throwing shit around and hoping for the best.

If this continues – if this relationship progresses further, and longer, perhaps Georg will teach Tom how to do it by himself.  Maybe Georg will teach him to put the belt on himself when he’s feeling particularly ungenerous or wants to test Tom’s limits further, or when he thinks that Tom needs to understand consequences.

For now, though, it’s Georg’s task to put it on _for_ Tom, and he’s going to do it right.

Kneeling on the floor in front of Tom, he starts gently, with just wiping Tom’s skin down with the wipes. Bacterial infections are both very unfun and potentially dangerous, especially around the groin, and right now, Georg wants to do this _right._ It means making sure the belt is clean, and that Tom is too, and that there are no cuts or places where Tom could get an infection.

It’s a curiously clinical moment, lifting Tom’s dick to wipe underneath it, down the crease of his thigh, using his fingers to press the cool material underneath his balls to make sure everywhere is clean. It doesn’t feel sexy to do it, even though Georg is literally inches from Tom’s genitals – it feels too matter-of-fact. Too close to reality to be sexy.

Tom doesn’t even pop wood during the process.

When he’s has finished, Tom shivers as the alcohol from the wipes evaporates, and Georg doesn’t comment. He just watches as the swathes of goose bumps ripple into life across Tom’s body, sweeping up his belly and along his chest. This is why Georg likes Tom’s sensitivity – it hardly takes anything to make him tremble, make his nipples tighten and his chest or belly shudder even more.

He’s ridiculously sensitive to everything from cold to touches, and they all take great pleasure in making Tom shudder or squeal and duck away from their cold hands after going outside in winter, or stroking down his neck to make him moan and move into the touch. Georg would like to explore that further sometime in the future, but not today.

He rests his hands on Tom’s hips, feeling the sharpness of the bone underneath the sensitive skin, feeling for the changes that Tom’s body’s undergone recently. Georg knows that Tom’s not proud of his body yet, and that’s something they’re working on, together as a unit. A lot of Tom’s issues about weight and needling Georg and the others about their bodies comes from a lack of confidence about his own.  He’s put weight on the last few weeks which is a big improvement – living a life of booze and no sleep doesn’t make for a healthy body, and Georg is glad to see it changing, but there’s a way to go yet.

Like everything else. There are a lot of on-going projects when it comes to Tom.

At the moment, Georg is taking the whole belt and chastity thing very softly softly, and he knows that maybe later on, another time, that will change. He’ll give firmer directions, requiring Tom do as he’s told without waiting for him to think about it, giving Tom one single chance to comply, to get it right, that sort of thing.

It sounds cruel and bizarre but that’s what obedience is about.

 It’s what _submission_ is about.

Tom should trust that Georg knows what’s best for him, and that questions and delays are unnecessary. During a situation like this, Tom’s job is to respond to Georg’s words, or his hands moving his body or the written instructions that sometimes will be left for him. It’s not his job to ask questions or to set the pace as he has done today.

But that’s another day.

First times are never perfect, and Georg knows that this will be no different. He’s letting Tom work his way through the process on a mental front so he’ll understand it and then next time, it’ll run smoother.

After Tom settles again, stops rocking from side to side in an unconscious effort to comfort himself, Georg lifts up the belt from where it’s been resting on the sterile paper sheet, and Tom flinches. It’s not in his face – that’s completely impassive at the moment, which is unusual in itself for Tom – but deep in his belly. Which so happens to be eye level with Georg, and it’s so… not like Tom. Georg has never seen him do that before, react like deep inside instead of on his face and he checks in with him verbally.

Leaving the belt on the floor, he waits for Tom to make eye contact with him again. “Talk to me.” Georg is waiting for a response, but he knows that Tom need physical contact to feel okay about himself enough to talk. With one hand on Tom’s belly, the other around his hip, Georg doesn’t stand up but he does hold onto Tom, letting him know that there’s someone here, and ready for him to speak.

He thinks that standing up, making Tom look eye to eye with him at the moment might make him bolt for freedom. Which would be bad.

Obviously.

“I- I’m-” It takes a swallow, and another flinch that Georg feels underneath his hand. “I’m o-okay.” Mmm. Georg doesn’t quite believe that.

“If you need to stop, Tom,” Georg speaks slowly and calmly. “You have your word.”

“I –“

“Tell me your word, Tom.” Georg won’t move if Tom can’t give it – it’s too dangerous if that safety net of the safe word is lost because Tom can’t remember it or doesn’t want to use it. “I need your word to continue.”

“H-hase.” _Jackrabbit._

Georg picked it because that’s what Tom’s pulse spends a _lot_ of time sounding like when they’re doing stuff – beating fast like the feet of a jackrabbit – and he knows that it’s a nice, short word, but not one that would _ever_ normally come up during sex.

“Again.”

 _“_ Hase.” Tom sounds a little more confident and Georg nods.

“Again.”

“Hase.” There’s no hesitation there; the word flows out of Tom’s mouth like it was meant to be there, and Georg is happier with it. Hesitation is bad, confidence is good.

“If you need me to stop, use your word, Tom, and I will. I promise.”

“’Kay.” Tom doesn’t sound very comfortable but when Georg looks at his face, it’s relaxed a tiny little bit. He’s with it enough to be able to say his word, and to know what it means, and Georg is content that Tom is still aware of where he is, not lost inside his own head.

Good enough for Georg.

He lifts the belt again, pressing it against Tom’s pelvic bone to hold it in place while he fastens the straps.

The black rubber edging the front panel and the grey metal of the whole thing contrasts against Tom’s skin, and Georg has to restrain himself from touching more than he needs to in order to fit the device.

It’s hard though.

Tom closes his eyes through the entire process, and Georg doesn’t make him open them. It’s not up to Georg to make Tom stay silent and still. It’s up to Tom to keep it together, because Georg can only deal with the fall out. If closing his eyes and deep breathing is the way that Tom wants to deal with it, then that’s fine.

The clip at the back clicks shut with a loud sound in the still room.

It’s not bolted on – the heavy padlock for it is still sat in the cupboard and if Tom had enough time and independence, he could probably figure out how to do undo it by himself.  He’s very determined at times, and no doubt that would one such occasion where he’d put that tenacity to good use. Georg doesn’t intended to _give_ him chance that, though, since it would defeat the objective of having Tom in a chastity belt.

The weight of it is impressive, and he knows that Tom will able to feel every inch of it in a way that’s different from what he’s used to, confusing and daunting.

He’s expecting a strong response.

Once it’s on, and he’s checked all the way around to make sure that it’s both secure and not pinching or hurting, Georg backs off. He leaves Tom standing in the middle of the floor and retreats to stand beside his bed, disposing of the sterile sheets, the empty packages of the wipes, the wrapping for the belt going back in the wardrobe.

He gets the feeling that he’s not quite welcome inside Tom’s personal bubble at the moment, having just fitted him with the _worst_ possible thing since thumbscrews were invented. At least, that’s how Chris described it when he was showing it to Georg.

Right before Medra put it on him.

Even after the reassurance, and the coaching of the safe word, Georg could feel Tom trembling deep inside when he was fitting it, and he knows what’s coming.

Tom’s cheeks are flushed, and he looks about two seconds away from either crying, or trying to fight the belt off again. Possibly both. His fingers are curled under the straps, not pulling, not pushing, to try to get off but just…resting there. For now.

It’s a hard thing to realise for Tom, probably. He’s putting not just his punishment but his body in the hands of someone else. For the foreseeable future, Tom’s pleasure is no longer his own. It mostly wasn’t before and neither was his ability to go to the bathroom, to shower or wash. He had to ask, because he was always escorted everywhere, having to request time in the bathroom for whatever reason when he was on punishment.

Bill took care of him in the evenings, and Georg knows that he would _not_ have made it easy for Tom. He would have had to articulate each and every need, from the sponge to the toothbrush, and Georg and Gustav both made Tom leave the door open when he went to the toilet. Earning the right to privacy is somewhat of a lesson for Tom.

But now, it’s not just a requirement – it’s a necessity. Tom _cannot_ go on his own, needing someone to undo the belt for him before he can pee or take a shower properly. While he had to choose to put his needs out to Georg or Bill, now he doesn’t have a choice – if he wants to go, he needs someone there with him. He’s not free in the most basic way now. His body is all now tied up in Georg’s hands (or Gustav, or Bill’s) and he’s probably just realising that.

As his fingers explore the belt, touching the lock at the back, Tom sobs, a wordless sound that hits Georg right in the chest like a fist. He sounds so distraught that Georg wants to reach out, and hug him, bring him in close so he can be comfort, but he doesn’t respond to that urge. He doesn’t need to.

Tom’ll fall apart all by himself, and hugging him before he’s ready will ruin the slow break that this occasion needs.

Instead, he rises from the bed, moving closer to Tom to touch him on his arm; a nonthreatening gesture. “Breathe for me,” he murmurs, waiting for Tom to respond. He knows what’s coming but he needs to wait for Tom to do it by himself.

Tom does breathe on Georg’s command and then it happens. One shuddering breath in, and he’s lost it, and he does cry too, just as Georg predicted. It took only the lightest touch to push him down that slippery slope, making him crumble emotionally.

Georg lets him cry, hardly reacting because he knows that it would make the situation worse. Tom doesn’t want hugging and kisses at the moment because that’s too much for him. He wants alone time, a space to process, and distance.

Georg will give him that.

“Geo?” Tom mumbles. He wants something – touch, affection, distance, privacy, a fight, to lash out and hurt someone. He’s a conundrum at the best of times, and this is not the best of times.

Georg knows there’ll be more tears coming. It’s an emotional journey that they’re going on, and the chastity belt is a physical representation of the lack of the control for Tom.

It means another change for Tom, more new things to process and get used to during his red card punishment. It’s reminding him that he is not in control, and that his happiness and well-being – emotional, physical, and mental – is dependent on other people, and that he has to trust them to know what he needs.

He didn’t before – he didn’t trust that Georg’s punishment of corner time was what he needed, and he tried to get out of it. Not that it worked, but the intention was there. And that’s unacceptable.

Georg won’t keep it on him permanently – a few hours here and there, perhaps, maybe at night, if Tom’s been really bad, but it’s not a choice for Tom. It’s up to Georg’s wishes, and Tom will have to obey the rules of the belt.

And there are a lot of them.

No more sex when he wants it, no more touching or holding or doing anything with his own private parts, because it’s all off limits to him now. Tom will also have to ask to shower or wash at the sink, to go to the toilet - everything. There’s no padlock on the belt this time, just because Georg thinks that might just push Tom over the edge, but the latch and pin at the back might be a bit difficult even for Tom to manage when he’s so new at it.

Not to mention the fact it’s the _principle_ of the matter that makes it a requirement to ask permission, rather than Georg’s own wants. It’s going to be a long few weeks for Tom.

Tom won’t stop crying, even though he keeps calling out for Georg – trying to get the words out of his mouth but failing at the first syllable, but he won’t let Georg touch him properly. He shies away, turning his shoulder up and forwards when Georg comes close to say _go away_ even as his mouth says _I need someone._

Fine. Georg can take a hint. Tom’s not ready for cuddles and kisses yet.

Instead, he helps Tom to get dressed, helping him to step into his sweatpants, drawing them up to his waist when Tom makes no move to do it himself, lifting Tom’s arms into the t-shirt as well. It’s unusual for him to dress Tom. Usually, that’s Bill’s purview, something that Tom claims to despise but Georg isn’t so sure.

He watched it happen a few times, mostly while they were on tour at the very beginning, and Bill used the time to touch his brother, stroking down his sides, caressing his neck, and Tom drank it all in like a starving man. He was happy to be moved here and there in exchange for those precious, fleeting touches, and Georg wonders how the twins found out that Tom loved it so much.

Tom would never tell, though, because that’s how he works. He would hide it; pretend he hated being dressed like a child, even though the contentment on his face was plain to see. Georg only worked it out through observation and careful thought on what he witnessed.

Once Tom is dressed, Georg checks in with him again.

“Do you want a hoodie?” Tom is cool to the touch, and Georg knows that he’s usually pretty sensitive to the cold, needing plenty of layers to stay warm. Unfortunately for Georg, he doesn’t get much sense out of Tom now, through the tears.

He still scoops up the red hoodie over the foot of his bed anyway. He figures it’ll be needed later on.

But Tom’s response is actually pretty much on course for what Georg expected.  

He’s not just crying about the belt, though, he’s sobbing out all the frustration, anger, and hurt that’s been building in the last few weeks – long before the punishment began.

For a while, he’d been jonesying for a fight, looking for a weak spot to push against, and although he hadn’t found it, it had been plain to see that he wasn’t as comfortable in his role as he had been. Bill showed them on his list where he marked what Tom received in terms of daily cards, marking a little coloured dot to reflect the card that Georg, Gustav, or Bill gave him every evening for his behaviour. Seeing it laid out in the back of the notebook, there had been a definite downward turn evident. Whereas Tom had been earning blues and greens consistently during the first two months of their new relationship; two weeks before he blew up, the pattern shifted into yellows, scattered with a few greens and an _orange_.

It was a trend, and they’d seen it coming a while off.

The orange had been a massive portent of something bigger coming in the future – Tom had bucked _hard_ that day, and the debate whether it was actually been a red or an orange worthy offense has been long.

Compared to the one that earned Tom his current red card, though, it was a minor incident.  

Georg had recognised that the red card was coming – Gustav and Bill both thought it was too. But they had no way to tell when or how. It was like waiting for a bomb to go off – they just had to sit and wait for Tom to finally reach a point where he couldn’t contain himself within the rules anymore.

But like everything with Tom, it wasn’t as simple as a single, massive overreaction of temper and physical resistance.

The first explosion came with the fight over the corner time - it was an excuse for Tom to lose it, and lose it he did. Physically, he fought Georg hard, and it was definitely a release of tension for him.

But the second explosion, the _emotional_ release that had to come, had been conspicuously absent.

Until now.

Georg doesn’t shush Tom or hold him tight. He’s obviously not ready for that yet – he’s just holding himself, wrapping his arms around himself tight, and weeping. He’s not in subspace, but he’s definitely not in a good place at the moment.

 Georg knows that this will have to be weathered and endured, rather than giving into Tom’s tears, but god, it sucks.

Tom will have to learn to live with the belt. He won’t like it, because that was the catalyst for this crying jag but it’s not coming off, and it doesn’t matter how much he wants it to, he won’t get out of it early. Georg suspects that it’s the shock of it that’s made Tom like this more than anything else but he hates listening to the sound of Tom falling apart.

But what to do about it?

In the end, he decides to take Tom downstairs, back to the warmth of the den to let him cry it out. They need a place warm and safe where Georg can sit back but still be in the room with Tom. It’s definitely preferable to leaving Tom on his own in his bedroom – who knows what he’d get up to in there if he was left alone in this state. He knows that Tom wants space, from the one who put him in the god awful chastity belt, as well as from the whole situation, and the den will provide that kind of place.

But unfortunately, the transition between bedroom and den is not such a smooth one.

On the way down the stairs, they meet Bill and Gustav coming the other way, in the direction of the bedrooms, and it’s not a happy meeting. As soon as he sees Bill, Georg nearly groans a loud, and he knows that his face is unimpressed.

Not what he wanted.

Seeing him and Tom is obviously a shock for the other two because even though they don’t say anything, the looks on their faces are telling enough.

Georg knows why they’re so shocked; seeing Tom clutching one of Georg’s hands, and holding the other over his face is definitely not normal in their relationship. Tom sounds absolutely horrific, distraught and emotionally vulnerable, and Georg knows it looks pretty damn cruel but he needs both his other dominant partners to trust him that everything will be okay.

This is a challenge, not a game stopper.

 Bill takes one look at Tom and goes to hug him, obviously reaching out because his twin is struggling emotionally; needing to reassure him, to make him feel better, and that’s the twin bond that Georg knows so well. He knew it would happen if Bill saw his brother like this. He wants to wrap Tom up, take him away from Georg and whatever’s upset him, comfort him with touches and hugs, but Georg shakes his head. This is something that Bill is going to have to let Tom process on his own, and Georg knows that being touched and petted won’t help Tom now.

Not until he’s finished processing.

Unfortunately, Georg doesn’t get a chance to explain everything – instead, he hurries Tom past the other two on the stairs, knowing that it’s only Bill’s trust in Georg’s experience that’s keeping him from latching onto Tom and hauling him bodily away.

The last thing Georg sees of Bill before they turn the corner at the bottom of the stairs is a look of absolute fury on his face, and Gustav reaching around to try to stop him going after Georg.

Bill is _very_ protective of his twin, and Georg hopes that Gustav will find a way to keep Bill calm until they’ve had a chance to talk this evening. Tom would _not_ take well to a fight between an angry Bill and a defensive Georg – he’d probably emotionally disintegrate, and that’s not a good thing.  

Georg takes a deep breath, and closes his eyes. He takes one brief moment to recenter himself. He doesn’t need to worry about Bill or Gustav, or the discussion tonight. His focus – his sole task at the moment - is supposed to be giving Tom a safe space to work through his emotional response, somewhere where he won’t be judged or humiliated for crying, somewhere where he can be physically distant for Georg while still being under his watchful eye. 

And that means the den.

Opening his eyes, Georg nods to himself, grips Tom’s hand a little tighter for a second to remind him that Georg is still paying attention.

“Come on.”

 

 


	8. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand here's chapter eight. There's one more after this one, and then it's finished. I'll be sad to see this one go.

  **Slow Repairs**

 

Inside the room it’s warm and cosy, with the fire lit and the windows carefully covered by the curtains so no hint of the wet and windy day outside seeps inside. Georg turns the lights on but keeps them dim so the glare in the room is low.

Gustav must have lit the fire earlier when he was in here doing his school work – it burns hot and bright in the brick hearth, and Tom’s immediately drawn towards it.

He does always love being in front of a warm fire, lounging in the heat like a lazy cat. Both twins do, as evidenced by the collection of goodies in front of the fire. Bill must have brought the blanket down earlier for himself, because there’s a stack of fashion magazines on the coffee table, and there’s only one person in the house who reads those. Combined with the half-finished extra-large bag of skittles – that’s a Bill thing, seriously – and Georg can see the quite comfortable nest he built for himself.

No wonder Tom’s drawn towards it. What one twin likes, so does the other.

As normal, he pulls away without thinking, giving Georg the same mindless response that he always falls back on – _I want it, so I’ll go and get it_ – but this time, he’s not allowed.  

It’s not up to him when he leaves Georg’s side. He has to _wait._

“No.” Georg tightens his grip on Tom’s hand, and uses a calm, even tone for the rebuke – it’s not a confrontation, just a flat out denial. Tom huffs. He doesn’t _like_ being told what to do, but he’s good. He doesn’t pull again.

“Good boy.” Praise is important, and Georg is especially aware of the fact that Tom is so fragile at the moment. He’ll need lots of reassurance and praise to get him back to an even keel, whether spoken – _good boy –_ or through physical touch.

He critically examines Tom, making sure that the fallout is still within the realms of what’s reasonable. He’s still teary, red faced and scrubbing at his eyes with his sleeve but it’s pretty much to be expected, and Georg is okay with it. If Tom was white faced and numb, unresponsive to words and touch, _then_ it would be time to worry, because that would be beyond Georg’s ability to deal with alone. “Look at me.”

Tom won’t. He’s still curling up his shoulder, refusing to meet Georg’s eyes, and that alone tells Georg that Tom is still somewhere deep, processing and coming to terms with not just the chastity belt but the difficult, complex emotional issues that have made him buck hard against the rules until this point.

That’s fine. Georg is willing to ride it out.

He shuts the door behind them both, and leads Tom over to the fireplace.

“Lie down,” he says softly, and Tom goes down onto the blue rug, as good as gold, turning his face towards the fire. Georg couches beside him. “I’m going stay in the room, Tom. I’ll be right over there when you need me.”

“Mmm.” It’s not a clear response, and Gustav would have made Tom look at him, repeat his answer correctly – _yes, Gustav, I understand -_ but right now, Georg can’t be bothered. Tom’s probably got very little energy to go digging around for proper, formal answers, and to be honest, Georg is in pretty much the same state.

He’s tired and worn out. Working with Tom like that was very intense for him, and he needs to take some time to regroup and get some mental energy back.

Once he’s sure that Tom’s not going to move, to buck up and away, Georg leaves him to it. He retreats to the sofa and into his own motorbike magazines. For his own wind down after something so intense, he needs some smooth, glossy double page spreads of engines and chassis diagrams where he can just clock out and admire the sheer technicality of it all without having to question it and try to suss out deeper meanings. And he just likes motorbikes.

But he does take the bag of skittles away. Tom hasn’t earned the right to sweets and candy yet, and leaving them right under his nose when they’re banned is just _asking_ for trouble.

He’s not that stupid, Georg isn’t.

He would laugh at the huff he hears behind him when he dumps the bag in the coffee table drawer before sitting down, but he won’t. He’s got _far_ too much self discipline for that, thank you.

Gradually, though, quiet returns to the room.

He’s leaving Tom to digest what happened in the bedroom in his own way as he sprawls on his back on the blanket in front of the fire because Tom doesn’t need more pressure now. Forcing him when he doesn’t want to be next to the one who put him in the belt, who made him let go of the emotions he’s been bottling up for _weeks_ on end is only going to end in disaster, and Georg has had enough of disasters for a _long_ time.

A really long time.

Fighting to keep control over someone who _really_ doesn’t want to cede it is a workout on every level, and keeping Tom under the yoke of rules during his red punishment has been intense. Although he’s been good on the most part, the tight restrictions about when and where he can go, and never allowing him to be alone has made him restless, and that’s made them all quite unsettled.

Georg recognises that part of it was them all waiting for Tom to kick off big time – walking on egg shells because they didn’t know when the trigger would be pulled. Every time they’d pushed Tom by reprimanding him about his language, made him repeat his requests for the bathroom or for food loud enough that they could hear it, or when they’d told him _no_ to television or his phone, it had been like playing Russian Roulette. They’d been waiting for the fallout, but nothing had happened, and it was up to the next person to push Tom that little bit more, that little bit further along the road until he reached the point where he couldn’t take anymore. The wait really was the worst part, in Georg’s opinion, and in the end, he’d made the decision with Medra’s input and a collective discussion with Gustav and Bill that the best way to move Tom on was to put in him in the belt.

It had to be big, and it had to be something that he couldn’t ignore. It had to be something that drove Tom right up to the line between _tolerable but unpleasant_ and _I can’t take this anymore_ and made him step over it. But it had to be when _they_ chose to make him lose it, otherwise, they risked it happening in an uncontrolled manner.

The thought of Tom kicking off properly in _public_ like that was… not worth entertaining. At all.

Tom has never done it so far – understanding even his frustration or anger, the need to keep this private and discreet – but the more he bottled up the weeks and weeks of stress and irritation and pain, the more likely he was to forget the need to be secretive about it.

And they couldn’t risk it because it put them in a position where either they disciplined him in public and that would cripple their reputation, or Tom would be allowed to kick off, uncontrolled and unpunished, which would destroy his own reputation. Catch fucking twenty two.

So yeah. It had to be forced, even if Georg hated the fact that it was him who was required to do it, as the most experienced and confident one of the three of them – him, Gustav, and Bill. Gustav sorely wanted to have a go but Georg vetoed it. He didn’t think that Gustav was ready. At all.

Another part of it was also that they were – and still are – completely unused to taking care of someone _so_ intensely.

Usually, Tom’s free to pick his own breakfast if he gets up late, choose when to go to the bathroom, shower when he pleases, and if he wants to go out with Andreas, it’s not a big deal. He just does it when he wants to, or at _most,_ he checks in briefly via text or a quick thirty second conversation. Emotionally and mentally, it’s not that taxing for anybody.

Currently, someone else has to make those decisions for him _all the time_ , and keeping track of someone’s life in that level of detail is both daunting and exhausting.

Every minute of every hour of every day has to be accounted for and monitored, and Tom is rarely left alone. Emotionally, that’s been intense for all of them too. Privacy is a deeply valued aspect of their lives, and by virtue of removing almost all of Tom’s, they’ve had to cede a good portion of their own along with it.

For Bill, that’s not so hard. Tom and he live in each other’s back pockets anyway, and the fact that it’s now required doesn’t change that very much for them.

But for Georg, who lives an otherwise independent live, and especially Gustav, who’s more of a lone wolf anyway, it’s been tough.

And it’ll only get tougher with the addition of the chastity belt.

“ _Fuck_.” Tom is _whimpering_ and shifting restlessly in front of the fire. He’s still struggling to settle, and Georg keeps an eye on him even as he turns the page of his magazine. “Urgh – _God…”_

Underneath Tom’s jogging pants, the belt shows through, somehow softer _through_ the grey material and less threatening. Georg is privately fascinated by the shape of it, the way that it looks so different when it’s on Tom, hidden away underneath clothes and made presentable for society.

It’s not, but if Tom stepped outside right now, people would find it pretty hard to tell what Tom had on underneath his sweatpants. Sling one of his giant hoodies over the top, and there would no chance. No chance at all.

Georg shifts uncomfortably.

Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to contemplate taking Tom outside at the moment, but Georg can’t stop imagining it. Putting Tom in the car, taking him through the drive through and stuff to just get him used to it and then gradually stepping it up, taking him out to the shops, when they go out to restaurants and to David’s office – that would be spectacular.

Georg is purposely avoiding thinking about taking the belt on tour, and being able to use it as when he pleases during the long months of being away from home, strapping Tom in the plastic cages through the airports to not set off the metal detectors, and in the belt while they’re on the bus, forcing him to be reliant on them for everything again.

He is such a fucking control freak sometimes. Worse than Gustav, and he knows it .

But he can’t help it. It’s so intoxicating to think about having that level of authority over someone, to be able to decide their life for them in terms of sex and intimate control. Not forever, but certainly being able to choose to step in at a moment’s notice.

He really needs to stop thinking about it. That little bit of popping wood that he started off with is definitely not just a bit anymore, and his dick is getting quite uncomfortable confined in his jeans. Maybe he shouldn’t think like that. It’s a fantasy, at the moment.

Thinking realistically, though, is what Georg specialises in. He can’t help it – it’s a thing. He has to have evidence and numbers, and right now, he’s got both in bucket loads. And the truth is obvious. Tom is definitely nowhere near ready for the outside world, and even thinking about it too loudly near him would put the wind right up his back.

It’s a shame, but true.

Georg adds it into his mental diary to try later – like _in two years_ later, but who’s counting the days? – and focuses on breathing deeply. Popping wood is nice, and normally, he’d take the time to enjoy it, but since there’s no way he can deal with it at the moment, it’s pretty useless.

Georg is not cruel enough to wank one off in front of Tom at the moment. It might be a good idea in theory, teaching Tom to observe what he can’t have and understand the privileges that the belt takes away from him, but no doubt it would end extremely badly with more tears, more relentless sobbing, and a huge breach of trust.

It’s another thing to add for later, maybe, but not now.

“Georg – please – “

“Shush, Tom.” Georg soothes him down with just his words, putting aside his magazine for a moment to focus. “Just breathe for me.”

“I can’t!”

“You can.” Tom is winding himself up more and more, but Georg knows it can’t go on for much longer. There’s only so long that Tom can maintain that level of crying and emotional outpouring, and they’re coming to the end of that time.

Tom’s shaking his head, fingers curled around the side straps of the belt as though he could shove it off himself with sheer strength of will alone, but Georg reprimands him verbally, telling him to _let go, now_ because he is _safe,_ and _there’s just us in the room, Tom, so you can let it go,_ and _you’ll be okay again._ Encouraging Tom to give into that urge to relax and stop holding himself so emotionally bound up is for the best, but it’s a slow process.

Georg is proud of Tom. He does let go. He does.

Unwillingly, ungratefully, unhappily, maybe, but he does follow Georg’s orders.

 _Good boy,_ Georg praises him, over and over again, even though they’re separated by several feet. Verbal communication is just as valid as physical, sometimes.

But Georg still has to restrain himself. On the shelf, the belt was a piece of equipment, cold, impersonal, a tool to be used and nothing more. On Tom, it’s an enticement to explore, tease, and restrain.

If Georg thought that he wouldn’t get his head ripped off if he went near Tom at the moment, he would go over there, make Tom take off his clothes, explore the metal again now that it would be warm from the fire and Tom’s body heat. He’d love to touch and to drive Tom fucking _nuts_ and leave him wanting and demanding more, even though he couldn’t have it.

But if he tried that now, he’d probably find himself dealing with a Tom much like he did before he handed him a red card – the same angry, raging Tom who wouldn’t accept anything except a fight and was determined to win too. It would suck big time; that much Georg knows.

To Georg, it’s an object of temptation. He doesn’t think the one who’s wearing it necessarily shares that opinion.

To Tom, who can feel the metal against sensitive skin, who can feel the belt pressing against him in ways that he’s never experienced before, denying him access and pleasure, it probably isn’t so soft.

Or so fun.

The clock on the wall ticks on while Tom cries, his face covered with his arm as he lies flat on his back, knees spread in a desperate attempt to make the belt more comfortable. He’s got one hand fisting a huge chunk of Bill’s blanket. The dark navy colour of the expensive material is offset against Tom’s scarlet shirt and grey sweatpants as he kneads it like a cat.

Georg knows that Tom’s very upset. He wishes he could reach out and touch him, but he knows it wouldn’t be well received.

It’s the same way advice on how to sit would also be rejected. It would be better, according to Georg’s experience, if Tom sat up, rested his back against the sofa or the trunk in the middle of the room that doubles up as the coffee table because it would mean the pressure would be off the strap at the back. But Tom’ll have to figure that out for himself.

Georg is just here to make sure that nothing bad happens. He’s the safety buffer at the moment.

Quiet and a calm, warm atmosphere works wonders, though. Gradually, as the clock on the wall ticks around, and Georg works his way through the many many magazines he’s been hoarding for a while, Tom is calming down. It’s a slow process but Georg has deliberately chosen a Saturday afternoon for this, and they have nothing else to rush off to.

Tom can have all the time he needs.

It takes about half an hour before he’s is entirely held together again; working through the myriad of emotions that have been contained until now. But there’s a more specific time that Georg is waiting for – a particular hitch in Tom’s breathing and a sigh that only experience with a crying, emotionally vulnerable Tom has taught him. Georg keeps an ear out for that moment, the one where sobbing moves through sniffling into steady breathing, to tell him that Tom is drifting towards sleep after such a long crying jag.

He’s waiting for it, because that would be the moment when Tom will be ready to be touched again, to be close to someone again, and Georg _knows_ that Tom needs that. Even though he might be piss and vinegar again, he’ll need to be close to someone to re-establish his boundaries and his mental balances.

Bill lectured both him and Gustav about it during one of their first meetings after drawing up the rules. As much as Tom would like to resist and pretend he didn’t want it, he _would_ need it and would want it so much.

Tom needs that closeness and physical reassurance even if he pretends he doesn’t because he thinks it makes him vulnerable or weak. It doesn’t, but that’s the way Tom works. Emotion is bad in his opinion – he thinks he’s supposed to bottle it all up inside of himself, because he’s an idiot like that.

Georg is familiar with the process after these last few months – Tom needs to cry, to break down and lose it a bit, and then, and only then, can someone put him back together with hugs and kisses and touch. Interrupting that process usually leaves Tom angry and hurt, and whoever tries to comfort him too early feeling like they got punched in the face, at best, or actually punched in the face at worst.

Because Georg was the one who upset Tom in the first place, it’s up to him to put Tom back together again, and now’s the time.

“Come here.” He beckons Tom over by patting the couch, offering him the chance to come closer like Bill taught them.

Of course, it wouldn’t be that easy. It’s _Tom,_ it’s never going to be so simple. Far from jumping to Georg’s command, he shakes his head, turning over to face away from Georg in a blatant act of defiance. He does that a lot, testing the boundaries again when he’s coming out of a crying jag just to make sure that they’re still there.

Georg rolls his eyes. “Come here.” No movement from Tom, and he sighs. “Fine.”

He’s never going to win that fight, Tom isn’t, and Georg does it his way. No ordering, no shouting, no getting right up in Tom’s face and making him physically back down as well as verbally.

That’s not Georg’s style.

It’s Gustav’s, even though they’re trying to break him of that, because it’s kind of intimidating, and if there’s one thing that Tom _hates,_ it’s someone getting right up in his face and demanding things from him. Tom bucks against it because it’s rude and unpleasant and just plain unfair because usually when Gustav does it, there’s nowhere to back away to, and then Tom has to either take it or kick back.

And he doesn’t like that.

Nope, Georg has far far more effective methods of getting Tom to do stuff, and he goes right for the quickest and easiest way of all. Why bother getting all fancy about it with words and stuff, that’s his way of thinking. The best way to move Tom is by Georg using his physical advantage over him and trusting in that to make it happen.

The collar around Tom’s neck is a very handy place to grab onto and pull.

Gently, of course.

Hours and hours of lecturing from both Medra and Chris has ingrained that into Georg’s head. He should never _ever_ pull hard on a collar because it’s so fucking **dangerous**. Medra taught him, and Georg, by extension, cautioned Bill and Gustav, to not do that because otherwise, there would be damage. Big damage. It’s all a matter of anatomy when it comes down to it; necks and throats are delicate, easily bruised or hurt, and very, very _fragile_ when compared to wrists and ankles.Because of how sensitive the trachea is to bruising and swelling, and the delicate muscles and bones in the spine being pressure sensitive, Georg knows never to pull hard on a leash or a collar.

He has no desire to hurt Tom in that way.

Gustav is still struggling with the concept – he views the collar and leash as a physical extension of his own power over Tom, and he doesn’t seem to always remember that he _can’t_ just grab on and pull. But he’s improving, and Georg is coaching him through it.

Medra pointed out the obvious flaw in treating a pet or a submissive like that; if you have to pull that hard to make them do something or to stop them, a top is doing something wrong in another area, and that’s where the focus should be. Not on the leash and chains.

In Medra’s rules, and by logical extension, Georg, Bill, and Gustav’s, a collar and chain system is ninety five percent symbolic, and even though it seems easy to just hook on a leash and _yank_ hard, it’s just not worth the risk and loss of trust. She advised them all to use other methods of persuasion like talking, and using your hand on their body, when dealing with a reluctant pet, and Tom’s given them plenty of practise with those techniques.

As expected. If it was easy, it wouldn’t be Tom.

Georg has developed his own little variation though, and so far, Tom has responded well to it. He dubbed it _the two finger slide,_ just because it made Tom flush like a virgin when he heard it the first time, and every time since.

No idea why, but it’s still amusing, and Georg likes amusing things even in the midst of sex and collars and chains. He thinks that fun and games shouldn’t be removed from sex, just because that’s what people expect.

The method is very much Georg’s own, though. It’s a very simple way to lead Tom around, requiring nothing more than a hand and a bit of determination. With just two fingers slid between the collar and Tom’s skin, hooked around the leather a little to the side, just under his jaw, Georg can intimately guide Tom around with little to no pressure on his throat. It’s very easy to make him move with just the tiniest pull or tug in this or that direction.

There’s something wonderfully intimate about it, but so clever, too, because the set up isn’t Georg three feet away from Tom on the end of a chain. He’s right there, his fingers pressed into the side of Tom’s neck, feeling the pulse under his fingers, and the way Tom swallows or breathes is directly accessible to him.

It’s a little like a halter on a horse but much, much more fun.

But that’s precisely why Tom responds _so_ well to it. It’s so close. So undeniable. He has no distance to retreat into, no way to back off, and that makes him compliant. Because he doesn’t get a choice, he has to obey, and it makes him confident in trusting Georg or Bill or Gustav. They have control over him completely, and he should just give in and let it happen; that’s what the fingers around his collar tell him, and Tom gives himself wholeheartedly to it.

Just like now.

A little pull up, and Tom’s climbing to his feet at Georg’s unspoken command. He’s a little shaky, and Georg offers him support with his free hand as well, but Tom refuses. Typical. The independent streak that so temporarily escaped when he was distraught and sobbing has once again reasserted itself and Tom won’t accept the little gestures of help any more.

Georg resolves to break him of that bad habit – it is **not** wrong or weak to accept offers of help – but not today. Not today.

Instead, he brings Tom back to the sofa, giving him some relief from the hard floor, even if he’s still on punishment. Normally, he wouldn’t even be allowed to sit on it – he gets a cushion on the floor when he’s on punishment because it creates a power dynamic that can be exploited and used to teach or to punish – but today, Georg is willing to relax that rule a little.

It’s a huge sofa , old and saggy and covered with a hideous floral pattern that even Bill, with his love of the kitsch, _loathes,_ but it’s so fucking comfortable that Georg swears it’s heaven-sent. When he sits on it, he sinks deep into the cushions, and it’s wonderful to catch a nap on. Hours and hours of waiting for Bill to be finished in the vocal booth or for David to come and give them a brief have been whiled away on that sofa.

And Georg regrets none of them, champion napper that he is.

The sofa and a blanket, and possibly an ice cold beer, that’s a perfect use of the den, and it wouldn’t be the first or the last time that the band ended up doing exactly that.

But now, it’s just Georg and Tom in there, and Georg is content to allow Tom to lie down on the long expanse to sleep a little, and recover after the afternoon’s trauma. And if it means that Georg gets to spend a few hours with Tom’s head in his lap and his warm body curled up next to him on the sofa, then that’s just a great bonus.

Tom is like a cat, as Georg has previously said, and given enough time and leeway will turn himself into a pretzel trying to get close to someone when they’re still. He’s always got to do it on his terms though. No amount of persuasion will make him get close when he doesn’t want to. But if he’s left to his own devices, within a few minutes, he’ll start pushing closer and allowing Georg to pet his dreads or stroke his face as he drifts off to sleep.

It’s really enjoyable, actually.

Bill does it as well, to an extent, but he’s so precious about his hair and make-up, it’s only Tom who knows _exactly_ how to touch him without fucking them up, and even then, it’s a hit and miss thing.

Tom, on the other hand, is a touch slut. Anyone who hangs around long enough will get Tom doing that to them, and it’s at once touching and funny that all it takes is a dread massage and a warm lap, and Tom’s theirs for life. Or at least, the next ten minutes.

Today, though, with the addition of the belt, he’s not as easy going as he would usually be. After a few minutes of shifting around underneath the blanket to try to work out the most comfortable position, Tom huffs, and he’s muttering under his breath again. Apparently, even though he wants to sleep on his back, he can’t due to the belt, and he has to change, which he doesn’t _like_.

Small changes fuck up Tom’s world. Even something as small as a position on the sofa is enough to make him grumpy and unhappy. He doesn’t like changing the routine of falling asleep on his back, but he’s going to have to, and Georg keeps up the pretence of reading his magazine while Tom works his way slowly through that inevitable thought process.

He won’t laugh. He _won’t._

It’s a close thing.

Only when he’s firmly established that’s it’s too uncomfortable to sleep on his back, does Tom finally give in to the inevitable. He turns onto his side, and once he’s sure Georg isn’t looking – he is but Tom’s observationally useless when he’s been crying - stuffs a handy cushion between his knees to help with the new pressure of the belt.

Finally, peace returns to the room.

Georg pulls up the blanket a little more, and Tom mumbles a _thank you_. Progress there too. Tom is usually not one for the _pleases and thank yous_ that the other three have been trying to teach him.

It’s _rude,_ Bill insisted, when Tom tried to tell him that they weren’t necessary, and they were all friends so it didn’t matter. The others agree. Rudeness is not okay, and Tom has to remember that.

But that is, as always, a fight for another day. Georg just praises Tom for his words with a _you’re welcome,_ and a gentle caress down the side of his face. In return, he gets a push against his fingers. It’s a not so subtle _do it again._ He smiles and obliges. Just like he always is, Tom can’t resist touch love, and Georg freely and willingly gives it. He loves the fact that his touches are enough for Tom to relax, to give into the sleepiness that threatens to overwhelm him any moment.

It’s a mark of how much trust Tom has in him now, since he never used to allow it. It’s only during this punishment period where Tom earned his red card that he’s starting to let Georg do to touch him intimately when he’s more vulnerable, like after crying or a deep discussion. Touch during sex or when he’s happy and content seems to be different to Tom than touch when he’s tired or hurting, and Georg is only just starting to peel back the layers of meaning and complexity. Previously, Bill was the only one permitted to do that but now, it’s changing.

Georg likes it. He really really _does._

Tom’s out for the count soon enough, his eyes drifting shut, and his breathing evening out again to become slow and steady. He’s gone within five minutes, his body and mind both exhausted by the intense workout they’ve just had.

Well, getting rid of months and months of tension, stress, anxiety, and fear in a single day would be tiring, that much Georg knows. Tom’s been hoarding all that up for _weeks,_ and only now has he let it go. No wonder he’s flat out.

Georg just leaves him be.

Tomorrow’ll have more battles, so why bother starting another one today? That’s what Georg tells himself as he goes back to his magazines.

 


	9. Chapter Nine

** Almost There **

Much to Georg’s relief, the rest of Tom’s punishment passes reasonably quietly.

It’s less exciting than he anticipated though, to be honest.

He just… expected more. More bucking against the rules, more active defiance, more _screaming matches._ But, yeah. No. Tom’s been good on the whole.

That’s not to say that he hasn’t fought against he rules, that he hasn’t tried to squirm out of doing as he’s told with either lying or defiance, because he has. Tom would never go down without a fight, and Georg knew that. It was something he, Bill and Gustav had discussed at length because Gustav seemed to think Tom would get the message and knuckle under perfectly, but Bill and Georg hadn’t been so sure.

Tom needed to be helped to find that equilibrium of accepting punishment and moving forward, and obviously, that was never going to be an easy process. But it’s been small scale, token efforts to disrupt the punishment, and gradually, towards the end of his four weeks on a red card, Tom’s knuckled down.

It’s a definite improvement.

It’s not just been about getting him to follow orders or to keep him chaste during the red card period, although he’s certainly been doing both very well. It’s about taking the time to figure out what went wrong, what went right, what they can to do improve their relationship with Tom, while sex and all things related to that are off the table.

Although they’re good things, Georg is aware that Tom has a great tendency to focus on sex and the high octane lifestyle to the exclusion of everything else.

Georg is really pleased with how well it’s gone.

It’s been interesting and definitely a struggle in some places, but they’ve made a lot of progress in their relationships as a foursome, _and_ perhaps more crucially, individually. Not just between Tom and each of his leads, but between Georg, Bill, and Gustav.

Before, they were acting as quite independent parties, connected through Tom alone. Now, they’re thinking about moving forward, connecting individually, as well as through Tom himself.

This wasn’t the intended outcome of the punishment – that was supposed to be contrition, recognition of wrongdoing, and reaffirmation that Tom is actually going to stick to his promises of being good.

Tom’s done that – a lot. A lot, a lot.

He’s spent a long time on his knees, talking over what he did wrong, and Georg and Gustav and Bill have also spent a long time talking about how they can support Tom better. How they can make it so Tom doesn’t _feel_ the need to kick off.

But there’s been another, bigger result of the punishment on top of that one.

These few weeks have been sans sex for Tom, and mostly sans masturbation on the whole. Not entirely on that last one – he’s had a few chances to orgasm, because Georg wasn’t so evil as to start Tom off on four weeks of absolute celibacy when he was so new to the whole thing. But those few - at the time and place of one of his leads’ choosing, not his own - orgasms didn’t even begin to cover the lack of sex, kissing and touching that Tom usually experienced.

In the place of physical intimacy has come emotional bonding.

Tom is actually willing to talk now, and they can all discuss their newfound relationships honestly and openly. The discussions in the months before the red card kicked in were mostly done privately between Tom and each of the other three, with occasional moments between Georg and Gustav with Tom. But it primarily existed behind closed doors, with Tom as their only common connection when it came to sex.

That’s changing, and Georg is confident that it will continue to change.

All four of them want _more,_ they’ve worked out. Operating independently inside the bedroom doesn’t help their emotional relationships _outside,_ because it contradicts the whole “don’t ask, don’t tell” thing they had going on before.

Since the second week of Tom’s punishment, they’ve been moving forward, together, as a group of four, as both sexual partners and somewhat romantic ones, too. Although they haven’t progressed to sex together, they’ve started talking about it, thinking about how it would work inside the bed as well as outside.

Juggling all four of them between the sheets will be new and different to all of them, but Georg is confident that they’ll figure it out, make it work just like everything.

They’ve all been reaping the rewards of that new bonding, too.

They need to work out more with regards to who and when and the technicalities, but Georg is happy – and comfortable – with the idea of Bill and Gustav climbing into his bed as well as Tom.

Not exactly as though it’s a hardship, is it?

Georg himself has discussed his relationship with Tom, sitting on his own bed with Tom lying with his head in Georg’s lap. Georg has been learning very quickly over the last few weeks that Tom is far from impossible to talk to. He just has to be approached in the right way; once Georg found it, Tom was very obliging. As long as Georg gave him a head massage, he was ready and willing to talk and listen. That’s Tom all over. He works for pleasure, and as long as Georg was willing to provide it, Tom could handle offering up himself emotionally.

It was a deal.

Georg enjoyed the time they spent together, learning about each other as more than just as sex partners. Tom’s far from perfect, and Georg accepts that – he knew that right from the beginning, and he’s still being reminded of it every day. Perfection is boring. But Tom is _interesting,_ and that means there’s room for change, room for new ways to act and think, and that’s what Georg is interested in when it comes to Tom.

He’s definitely not one to retire on, Tom isn’t. He’s far far too changeable for that.

They’ve worked through a lot of stuff, negotiating Tom’s formidable emotional walls around sex, about pleasure and pain because Tom is new at this. He’s used to sex with women, and with Zella, who knew him and didn’t ask anything of Tom _emotionally._ Her relationship with Tom started and ended in bed, between the sheets, and that wasn’t something either she or Tom was interested in changing.

Haltingly, over the course of several days, Georg started that process of peeling back the reasons why Tom ran to her, and away from emotional intimacy, why he chose sex instead of talking. It’s a work in progress, and Georg is well aware of the fact it will continue to be so for a long time, but it’s at least started now.

They also worked through his concerns about this new relationship, because Tom had worries and fears too.

Many of them were related to being listened to and being able to express himself. He didn’t want to be stuck in the middle if there was a fight or arguments between the people leading him, but on the other side, he didn’t want to be negated or have someone else speak for him either. Having his views and needs dismissed because he was submissive inside and outside the bedroom was a big worry for Tom.

Georg could understand that. Tom’s not experienced at all with relationships, and throwing collars and chains and punishments on top of that probably isn’t helping. Georg isn’t exactly Casanova, either.

But he could offer what limited experience he had, and talk through what was worrying Tom, and even if he couldn’t fix it, he could understand where Tom was coming from, look at what he was feeling without dismissing it. He could try to think about solutions later on, or even just try to help Tom understand _that’s how things work i_ n a way that isn’t throwing words at him and expecting him to understand. _. R_ ecognising that Tom feels a particular way is important, and will also be something that Georg will work on with Gustav.

Unlike their resident bear, Bill is naturally disposed towards listening to Tom, even if he eventually decides to go over his head, and maybe that’s a Bill thing. He’s always about people and speaking, and being aligned with Tom by twinship only enhances it.

Georg is learning, but his role at the forefront of everything means that he’s very often having to do it anyway, so it’s not so foreign to him.

On the other hand, Gustav is like a fucking bulldozer sometimes. It’s not so cool for anybody to experience that.

It wasn’t all one-sided, either. They talked a lot about trying to work through Georg’s own requirements for Tom, his own belief and rules and what he wanted from their relationship. They also discussed what it means for Georg to take over co-ordinating all four of them, because that was a huge thing for him. Trying to bring harmony and balance to a four way relationship that involves some of the most opinionated, stubborn, hormonal people Georg has ever met is somewhat of a Herculean task, never mind throwing in different hierarchies and power dynamics.

But he’s up for the challenge.

Likewise, they broke down what Georg wanted from _Tom_ specifically. How he wants Tom to progress, how he wants him to learn self control and discipline, and how to choose between things while thinking of more than just _me, right here, right now._

With four of them under one roof, it’s going to get tough. Very tough.

Georg likes talking to Tom, and he’s hoping it’s the same in reverse – that Tom understands he can talk to Georg, that he can come to him when he needs to discuss serious things as well as gaming or shit like that.

Talking over their needs, their requirements for a relationship is valuable. Georg wants someone who wants to listen to him too, who will support him during the tough times (like tour, for example) and someone who can keep up with him both in and out of the bed. Laying it out and seeing where they can work on things, and where they’re already doing well is a good aspect of their relationship.

Georg’s counterparts have also been talking to Tom, in their own ways.

Gustav talked to Tom in the garden, wrapping him up in a thick puffa coat, gloves, and scarf, while making him sit outside under the trees in the courtyard. It’s almost the middle of winter, but Gustav has never let the weather impede his activities outside, and neither will he let it come between him and his discussion with Tom.

Tom did _not_ look impressed when Gustav offered him the coat the first time, because it was eight thirty am in the middle of November on a fucking Saturday morning. Primetime lie-in opportunity, in the eyes of both of the twins, and Georg nearly pissed himself trying to hold in his laughter at Tom’s expression of absolute revulsion caught up in wanting to _not_ piss Gustav off.

Man, Tom can pull some good faces, but that was one of his best.                                                    

It’s a shame Georg didn’t get a picture of it.

But Gustav got his way. Several times that week, actually. It was freezing cold outside every time, but judging from the look on Gustav’s face when he came back in, it was always a good discussion. Georg doesn’t know what exactly they talked about, and he’s not going to pry since that’s really fucking disrespectful, but he thinks that those two have settled on some kind of even keel.

Gustav’s less aggressive with Tom now when he talks to him, less in Tom’s face. His tone is less confrontational, too. He used to be a hell of a lot worse – barking orders and not allowing Tom to give his own opinion. He basically set himself up for failure a lot of time, getting right up in Tom’s face and not giving Tom himself a chance to make the decision to obey. That was before. Now, he’s working on his voice more, trying to offer Tom a choice of doing something or getting a consequence, rather than just demanding.

It was probably the result of the Sunday dinner during week two, and Georg still can’t stop cackling over it.

They were all sat around the table after dinner, peacefully talking through their day and so fucking happy to be away from the management that had been harassing them all day. Out of nowhere, Gustav had wanted Tom to clear the table.

Only he hadn’t asked.

He’d ordered.

But instead of pushing back, of shouting and creating chaos like normal, Tom pushed back in his own, unique way. _Tom doesn’t do well with autocratic decisions,_ he had mumbled (in third person, no less) around a mouthful of food, and Gustav had looked rather dumbfounded. Bill stuffed his napkin in his mouth to try to stifle the giggles, but Georg managed to keep a straight face, just about.

It was fucking hard work, though.

Gustav does not do backchat, and he _especially_ doesn’t do backchat in third person. Georg knew he wouldn’t like it when Tom said that. Gustav did then, and always does, have a plan in his head, and then he expects everybody to follow it. But Tom didn’t hop to.

And then he’d repeated it when Gustav asked for it again, louder, and for a moment, Georg knew that Gustav was struggling with listening to the statement or reacting against it – being _autocratic_ or being reasonable but firm.

And then Gustav asked Tom to _please_ clear the table, instead of just barking an order at him. So he’d listened.

Tom did it. Without complaint, at least after the please, and it was a way better result than the usual fight. It was a big word for Tom, _autocratic,_ but Georg is happy that all this reading he’s been doing is teaching him something.

It was a watershed moment; Gustav finally putting into practise what Georg and Medra and Chris had all been trying to teach him for weeks. Bill had long since given up trying to teach Gustav how to treat Tom.

Twins are twins, and all that.

It’s not perfect between Gustav and Tom, and Georg rather suspects those two will always create fireworks because Gustav has a phenomenal temper, and Tom is more stubborn than a mule. When he doesn’t want to do something, he digs in _deep,_ and Gustav has to work to make Tom move, and it doesn’t’ always work.

Hopefully, though, that will begin to change.

On the other hand, there are the twins, and Georg feels less sure about that than anything else in this relationship.

It’s the one sticking point for him about this whole thing, and it’s not because he hates it. It’s because he can’t _stand_ not knowing, but he doesn’t _want_ to know, in some ways.

It’s been infuriating. To say the least.

Bill and Tom’s relationship is beyond Georg’s comprehension right now. It’s not something he can put his fingers on, and he won’t try. He won’t go there until the twins have figured something out for themselves.

As much as he would love to poke and prod the two of them into providing some kind of explanation, he knows he can’t. If he gives Gustav that courtesy, he has to extend it to Bill, too.

But he sees them interacting, watches them carefully, and something has definitely shifted for them.

They’re constantly hanging off each other, Bill wrapped around Tom who’s wrapped around Bill, always holding hands or touching or leaning on each other. It’s like being separated by even a few inches is difficult for them at the moment .

The way they look at each other – shy glances for Tom, as though he doesn’t want to be seen staring even as his cheeks turn pink or red, but long, assessing stares for Bill, openly looking at Tom as his mind works overtime – is definitely a big indicator that their relationship is new, is different and strange.

Even David has noticed, and he’s as thick as two bricks when it comes to the twins.

It’s about touches and glances at the moment, though, and Georg is content that it’s not too far out from their normal behaviour for anyone to look askance at them. David might have noticed, but they played it off as a twin fight, and so far, nobody else has asked them what was up with either of them.

Maybe that will be different once they figure it out, and they’ll need to come up with new protective strategies to make sure that both the twins’ relationship and their four way partnership with Gustav and Georg will remain under wraps. That, however, is tomorrow’s problem.

But there’s been progress in other areas of the twins’ relationship too, and it’s starting in the bathroom. Where else? The showers that used to be brisk and without much conversation in the morning as Bill supervised Tom, to make sure he didn’t try to jack one off in the cubicle, have changed. Overnight. Now, they’re taking longer as Bill takes over more and more of the role of dealing with his twin. He’s started washing Tom, or joining him in the double wide master bathroom, taking away more and more of that control that Tom loves so much to make him more dependent on Bill instead.

Other things are changing, too.

Bill disappearing into Tom’s room in the evening, and not leaving until morning, and Georg hears talking coming from Tom’s room long into the night. He’s curious as to what they talk about, but Bill is defensive about that time, and Tom doesn’t seem inclined to share.

There are touches, and gentle words and plenty of long stares that mean a lot. Bill has started kissing Tom on the cheek in the morning, and he often encourages Tom to lie across him with his head in Bill’s lap when they’re watching movies in the living room. It’s very intimate, and close. More importantly, perhaps, is the way that Bill has become suddenly able to touch Tom’s dreads, allowed to do more than just perfunctory maintenance on the roots and instead offer head massages and putting them up in dread scarfs… It’s a massive step for Tom. His hair is intensely personal for him, and for Bill to have free and ready access to it is certainly progress. All of this is telling Georg a lot about the twins and their new relationship.

The way that he’s suddenly much more proprietary about touching Tom’s clothes as well, as though they’re just an extension of his own, makes Georg think that finally Bill has begun feeling more comfortable with the kind of role he’s been trying on for the last two months.

He finally sounds confident.

It was probably Tom’s first enema in the bathroom that did it for Bill. It was the first time he was the sole person in charge of Tom, the first time he got to extend his own authority without having to deal with Gustav or Georg at the same time, and it probably boosted him a bit. Even though it was scary to be in charge like that, with Georg only there as a safety net, Bill controlled Tom successfully, got the task that was set done. There’s a big difference between thinking you can do it, and knowing you can do it.

Georg has been there, done that. When he first started out with Chris and Medra, he was nervous, not sure if he could do it, swinging between overconfident and two steps out the door in a nervous panic. When something went wrong, it felt like he forgot everything he knew, and the world was ending, and he couldn’t cope.

The second that Georg realised that he had someone upside down in a harness, entirely dependent on his whims and wishes, begging for something that _only_ Georg could do… That was a scary moment.

Scary as fuck.

Probably the first time he felt so weirded out by the whole thing about power balances and shit, but it sure as hell wasn’t the last time.

And now, it happens with Tom. Less often, that’s for sure, but it’s still there.

He _could_ cope, and he _did,_ and he learned how to deal with the stress of being in unfamiliar situations because his submissive or his partner was depending on him to be in control. Bill’s learning that now. Georg is proud of Bill’s changes in a strange way, and hopes that he’ll see it progress and grow to something else, too.

It’s a kind of a weird moment for Georg right there – being proud of someone else for learning how to control a third person, _his own identical twin brother, to boot_ , but Georg’ll take what he can get these days.

They’re all changing, all growing and developing in the month since Georg handed Tom his first red card.

Even Tom himself has changed.

He doesn’t hit the roof more than a handful of times during the entire red card period – memorably, over his second enema, and Bill brought him back under control very quickly – and he knuckles under the rules without much fuss.

Before the red card punishment, he was always pushing the rules, seeing how far he could manipulate Georg or Gustav because that’s what Tom did when he was pissed; he used every single skill he had to piss everybody he possibly could off. But he focused hard on Bill. He knew that his brother was the one who’d give in quickest, the one who could be emotionally manipulated with tears or tantrums. And Bill was, at the time, susceptible to it – he panicked when Tom fought back, or he fell back on old ways of fighting where the twins used to swing fists and frying pans at each other. That’s not how a lead should react – they need to be in control, to be calm, and have a plan to deal with the negative behaviour right there.

Georg knows that Bill’s learning a lot, adapting how he’s behaving to make sure Tom responds in the best way, and it’s working. Now, Tom’s a lot less likely to do that, obviously getting the message that all three of the people leading him are finally reading from the same page.

It’s a relief, actually, for Georg. Knowing that Tom can’t find a weak link between them gives him a lot more peace of mind. And it probably does for Tom, as well. Knowing that there’s no point in fighting means he gives in much quicker, which makes life much less painful for everybody involved.

Tom has settled to the new rules pretty well, overall, and he seems to find relief in the hard structure – set times for rising, sleeping, showering, and a routine every day that means he can anticipate what’s coming, prepare for it if he needs to – like the enema – and process new and old things easily.

It’s a day and night change from who he was before they brought in the rules, long before the punishment system was decided. Back when Georg and Gustav and Bill were on the outside looking in on Tom’s self destruction, that was a completely different Tom.

Georg is interested by this change in Tom, and he wonders how to bring it up again _after_ this punishment is over.

Obviously, it’s a change for the positive – he gets up and does chores when Gustav wants him to, goes to bed when Bill takes him there, and he even acquiesced to the chastity belt when Georg brought it out. Without a fight, every time. It was more than Georg expected.

God, it was hard for him every time, and Georg saw the tension in his fists and the set of his jaw as he allowed it to be put on him. But he was good and didn’t fight, didn’t lash out or shout and create havoc.

And he’s definitely continuing that elsewhere.

Tom’s not angry all the time. He’s not always tired. He _wants_ to do things with them, like playing football in the garden or going shopping with Bill. He’s sociable and polite, and, oh, Georg could extoll the virtues of the new Tom for hours. Because it’s so different. Because it’s exactly what they had hoped it would be and more. Because life in the band has gone from barely tolerable to actively pleasurable.

And Georg is proud of Tom for allowing himself to bend to them, instead of fighting.

It’s not easy to let someone else control you so intimately, to dictate even your right to food, to even _speak_ or go to the bathroom or the right to masturbation, because these are the kind of things that you do independently. Sex requires another person, and Tom is used to having to negotiate that in some respects – if Zella didn’t want it, Tom wasn’t having it, for example. But things like wanking, going to piss when you need to, even choosing where to sit at the dinner table – those things are choices, things people do almost without thinking. For Tom to accept someone else’s control, to let it happen without a fight, is a big step in the right direction.

It’s been a long four weeks, and Tom’s done his time, pretty much.

They’re on the last day now, and Georg has decided against Gustav’s suggestion of a big send off, with sex and re-reading of the rules and such. As much as it would be nice, it would also be seriously stressful for Georg, who’d have to orchestrate it, and Tom, who would have to deal with sex and pleasure in front of them when he’s been denied it for so long.

He’s been allowed limited access to masturbation – always under supervision – and Georg knows that Tom’s worst moments during his punishments have been linked to precisely that. It’s not so much the lack of masturbation or sex that’s gotten to him; once he finally got his head around the fact he wouldn’t be getting more than what Georg would give him, he just got on with it.

It was control he bucked against, though. He didn’t get privacy, he didn’t get the comfort of his own space and choice of material to wank to (his own magazines were removed by Gustav and everybody else’s were strictly off limits), and Georg knew that it would be hard for him.

But interestingly enough, there was a clear trend, and Georg hadn’t really anticipated the full reaction until it arrived. It’s Bill that causes the rebellion and the tantrums – and they were tantrums, however much Tom tried to insist they weren’t. Stomping feet and shouting about _it’s not fair_ aren’t exactly tools of the mature and the grown up. But the fact remains: Tom hates masturbating in front of Bill. He’s only been asked to do it twice, but both times, Georg had to intervene with the resulting fallout of Tom fighting tooth and claw to keep his clothes on, to get Bill out of his room, refusing any and all _aides_ that Bill offers. Both times, Tom got corner time and sent to bed in the chastity belt.

It’s strange. In day to day terms, he and Bill are getting stronger and stronger as twins, opening up to more and more positive experiences and taking their relationship up to the next level. But perhaps it was the fact it wasn’t soft and emotional feelings that Tom had to deal with – masturbation is very different from kissing or even just touching in an intimate way. Perhaps it was just because it meant something concrete was happening between him and his brother that he could otherwise … not ignore, exactly, but just not really label and admit to himself what it was.

A step or six too far along the road that Tom had only just begun to consciously acknowledge.

After the second time, Georg insisted they concede that part of the battle – Tom wasn’t allowed a victory _over_ them, but they could choose to retreat if necessary, and he felt it to be so. Insisting on continuing could push the twins’ relationship into something very negative and delay any progress possible in the future.

Gustav had been less than impressed with Georg’s decision to intervene. His view was that they should keep pushing forward, forcing Tom to like it or deal with it until he reached a point where he could no longer fight. He believed that allowing Tom his way by taking Bill off the rota meant that Tom had _won_ a key victory, and thought the only solution was pushing Bill forward so Tom had no choice but to deal with him, and _only_ him.

Georg wasn’t convinced. Tom had been deeply, emotionally confused over Bill’s presence in his room when he was supposed to be masturbating; it hadn’t just been a mild upset. The twins’ relationship is changing and shifting, and Tom, who struggles with change and adapting to it at the best of times, is struggling to keep up. Whereas Bill was excited for the new development, eager to push their relationship forward, Tom had been less confident, less sure.

And when Tom didn’t like or understand what was going on, he fought against it. Hard.

Georg has resolved to work on it with both twins slowly. Bill needs guidance and help to think of ways to get closer to Tom without triggering that barrier. And Tom needs help to talk through his worries and fears and all the issues that kept him from accepting Bill like that.

But that’s for another day. Georg is content to wait for this last day to be over without rushing or digging up complicated emotions or bringing in sex that isn’t needed.

So, instead, he and Tom have once again retreated to the den after lunch with all four of them. The fire crackles in the hearth, and outside, there’s the never ending soft patter of rain.

It feels warm. Comfortable. _Familiar._

The den has become their place to retreat to, and to be close in a way that doesn’t involve bedrooms and sex. The warm green on the walls, and the wide, long sofa make it a perfect place to be relaxed and to talk or to just sit, draw and read.

Currently, that’s exactly what they’re doing. Tom’s nose first in his latest novel – stolen from Georg’s collection this time, because he’s exhausted the ones Gustav donated for the _keep Tom entertained_ project. Georg has finally begun to work his way through his backdated issues of motorbike magazines. He never has time to read them on tour or during recording time, and it’s only during downtime, those few precious weeks a year, that he finally gets to read them.

This batch goes back to October. _Last year._ Holy fuck, maybe he should switch to an online subscription, given that it’s oh, November of the **next year**. No wonder his mother threw the pile at him and told him to read them or bin them.

He turns the last page, reaching the end of yet another magazine – May of this year, so he’s getting closer to the end – and throws it onto the coffee table. It was a good edition – plenty of articles that Georg can clip out and keep for when he finally gets around to owning his own bike, doing it up himself in the garage out back. Man, it’s a dream, but he’s determined to fulfill it.

Georg reaches for the next one, checking the time as well. Tom seems to take his movement as a cue to perk up from his book, his face desperate.

“How long left?”

“A while.” Georg points Tom’s face back towards the book in his hands by gently holding onto his chin. Tom pouts. “Don’t ask again, Tom.”

“Nrgh.” Tom sounds less than pleased with that answer, and Georg gives him a _look._ Vocalising displeasure like that – not enough to be called out but enough to convey disrespect – is a bad thing, in Georg’s opinion, and he’s working on cracking Tom of the habit. Slowly.

When Tom finally gets the message, he settles to his book again. Disgruntled for sure, but quiet again.

His punishment doesn’t end until tonight, so Tom is probably dying to get to bed and last out the final few hours asleep, but Georg won’t let him. If he goes to bed now, he’ll be awake at two am, and a Tom awake in the wee hours of the morning is one who gets up to mischief.

Frankly, he’s probably desperate for an early morning wank away from the watchful eyes of Gustav, Bill, and Georg, and their reprimands and chastity belts. Or at least, that’s a big part of it.

But he’s going to do the last day of the punishment, and do it properly.

Georg is pleased that the punishment is almost over. He’s tired of being chained to Tom non-stop, being forced to constantly be aware of someone else no matter what he’s doing. Likewise, so are Gustav and Bill. They’ve all had to pull together, keep Tom restrained and restricted which has been difficult for them too. It’s put the kibosh on going out, drinking, staying up late, all the things they like doing.

But, they stuck to it.

Every part of the punishment, from no dessert to no clubbing, and from regular enemas and early bedtimes, it’s all been implemented to varying degrees of success. And they’ve got plenty of notes and discussions, both with Tom and just with his leads, to help them manage the next punishment as well.

There have been a few hiccups, and a steep learning curve for all of them, not just Tom, but it’s been worth it.

In Georg’s opinion. Tom might disagree.

Tom grumbles again, shifting where he sits on the floor uncomfortably. He’s wearing the belt again, and Georg knows it’s not exactly like sitting on a feather bed with that thing on.

Time to distract Tom, then.

He cards his fingers through Tom’s dreads, knowing exactly what he’s doing, and awaiting the response he wants.

He’s found out that Tom is absolutely defenceless against the power of a head massage, and sure enough, within about a minute of Georg starting, Tom’s dropped his book to the floor, completely heedless of the fact he’s lost his place or the fact it falls with pages creasing in the middle of the book.

Instead, shutting his eyes and leaning back between Georg’s spread knees, he’s barely two seconds away from melting into the floor. He’s gone absolutely soft all over, and Georg can feel the lack of tension when he moves down to Tom’s neck, appreciating the height difference he gets from sitting on the sofa while Tom is regulated down to the floor. Tom moans out loud, and Georg laughs.

“Like that?”

“Mmmm.” Tom is barely able to put a few coherent words together, and Georg chuckles gently again. “S’good…”

This is why Georg _likes_ being the boss of Tom, sometimes. It’s nice to be able to completely undo someone, in a way that’s different from _just_ sex or _just_ touches. In five minutes, Tom has gone from being sulky and miffed to being placid and desperate for touches, for more, even going as far as to drag one of Georg’s hands back to where he wants it.

Georg obliges.

Tom cracks a smile, but it’s different this time – soft, lazy, the smile of contentment that Georg loves to see because it means he’s doing his job well. He searches for a new topic of conversation.

“How do you feel about dinner, Tom?” Gustav’s cooking again tonight because Georg swapped days with him. Bill’s day as the household chef is usually the take-out day.

“As long as it’s not salad, I’m good.” Georg chuckles, and Tom grins up at him again, upside down, but even so. They’re still working on the whole vegetables thing, but whatever.

“Oh. Gustav’s made it already. A great big plateful of icky green stuff, all for you.”

“ _Gross._ ” Tom shudders, and Georg laughs. “Seriously. No greens.”

“One serving.”

“Eh.”

“ _One.”_ Georg waits for Tom to pout, and sure enough… He puts a finger on Tom’s lips, holding back the demands for less vegetables. “One serving, and if you eat it all, you can get dessert tomorrow.”

“Oh.”

While tonight, Tom’s still on punishment, which means no dessert, he’ll be off it for tomorrow, and _that’s_ the big deal. It’s Gustav’s baking day tomorrow – dessert on a regular day is good, but on his baking day, Gustav will churn out enough sweet, sugary goodies to keep both twins on a sugar high until the early hours of the morning.

“Understand?”

“I do.”

“Awesome.” Georg brushes his thumb down Tom’s cheek, caressing the soft skin there. Tom’s not even shaving yet – there’s no rough stubble or even five o’clock shadow, and Georg likes it. At now seventeen, it’s not surprising, but it’s a mark of manhood, and Georg knows that Tom’s desperate to start showing _something._

Georg has been shaving for almost three years now, and Tom is _jealous._ He grins and strokes Tom’s cheek again, following the flush that follows. Tom’s _so_ transparent; he’s all sensitive about his lack of beard, and he knows that Georg is amused by it. “How are you feeling?” He trades stroking Tom’s check for caressing Tom’s ear, knowing it’s a spot that’s pretty much guaranteed to turn him soft and amenable to questions.

It works. Of course.

“I’m…” Tom searches for the right word. “I’m bored, but it’s not the bad kind.” The kind where Tom gets destructive, vindictive, or frustrated. “I want to do something different, though.”

“You don’t want my books?”

“I swear, I’m starting to go cross-eyed. I can’t read anymore, or they’ll have to start photoshopping my face more than they already do.”

“What do you want to do?”

“I’m still on punishment, right?”

“Of course.”

“Urgh.” But rather than focusing on that, Tom’s turning his attention to something else as he turns around to face Georg, drawing his knees up and crossings his arms over them. Better than straining his neck, since this is apparently going to be a long conversation. He ends up looking uncomfortable, folded between the narrow passageway between the coffee table that’s actually an old trunk and the sofa, but since he doesn’t complain, Georg doesn’t, either. “Want to work out?”

“We did it yesterday; today’s a rest day.”

“What about practising the guitars?” It’s rare that Tom _offers_ to practise when he usually avoids it if at all possible, but apparently, he’s bored enough.

“Bill’s having a lesson, and Gustav’s got the second booth.”

“Damnit.” Tom huffs.

“How about…” Tom taps his chin, “What about going to the store?”

“What for?”

“Beer?”

“Beer is off limits, Tom, until tomorrow, and you’ll have to find someone else to buy it for you.” At sixteen, Tom’s too young to drink. Usually, he shares one of Gustav or Georg’s stashes if he wants one, but if he wants a six pack of his own, he’ll have to beg for it from one of the security guards or a tech.

Fat chance. David’s cracking down, and Tom knows it. If Georg or Gustav won’t provide it, he’s not getting one for a _long_ time.

“Food.”

“Dinner’s in ninety minutes.”

“Uuuuurgh.” Tom toes the footplate of the couch in lieu of kicking it (he knows Georg won’t tolerate that one bit) and Georg grins. Tom’s desperate to _do_ something, and he’s just about to try the thing Georg wants him to…. “Chores.”

Perfect. “Now that, I can approve of.” Georg pulls out the list in his back pocket of Tom’s chores. He usually gets it by email, but since he’s been rather restricted from internet access, handwritten it is.

“You were waiting for me to say that.”

“Might have been.” Georg still has no shame, though. “Let’s see… how about cleaning yours and Bill’s bathroom?”

“Pass. And ew.”

“Tidying your bedroom.”

“It’s _tidy_. _”_ Tom looks grumpy, and Georg raises an eyebrow at him. “It is. I did it yesterday with Gustav looming over me.”

“How did it go?”

“He made me go back _three times_. _”_ He huffs. “First the bed wasn’t made _‘properly’_ – who the fuck does _hospital corners_ on their own bed? – and then I didn’t dust, and then I forgot to sort out the trash can under the desk. And don’t do that.”

“Why not?” Georg lowers his eyebrow slowly. Gustav wouldn’t have let Tom off easily; Tom might be excessively tidy, but Gustav can be loosely classified as anal retentive when it comes to household chores.

“You look weird.”

“Thanks _so_ much.” Georg lets it slide and carries on down the list. “How about tackling the mess that is Bill’s room?”

“I’d rather live.” Tom shudders melodramatically. Bill’s room is uh… creatively untidy, to be kind, and a bombsite to be less so.

“Point taken. How about prepping for tomorrow?”

“What’s tomorrow?”

“You and Bill have tutoring in the morning, so we need to find all your stuff for that.” The twins attend internet school along with Gustav – Georg used to, but he graduated this summer. Joys of being nineteen, and all that. “And then you have a guitar lesson in the afternoon, and Jost wants us to sign some stuff for next week’s interview.”

“Sounds fun.”

“I imagine it will be.”

“But I’m off punishment!”

“Tomorrow, you are.” Georg catches the fist that Tom uses to punch the air, bringing it back down and away from his face. “But…”

“But?”

“You know that you can always go back, don’t you?” Georg is being very serious, and Tom is as well. “I’m good with you being off a red card, and from tomorrow morning, you get to start again on the punishment system.”

“Yeah. I know that.”

“But you can always go back on a red card – and believe you me, I will do it.”

“Yes, Georg.” Tom bites his lip. “Do I start…on a red again?”

“No, you start on green. That’s your baseline again.” Georg points to the cards that he’s laid out on the table when they first came down here. “You start back here, in the middle, and you can go up or down. That’s your choice.”

“Can I aim for purple again?”

“Sure. I’d love for you to hit purple. I’d be very proud if you did.” Purple is the best one – it means that Tom’s hit the highest level of good behaviour, and been so well behaved, they’ll really push the boat out in terms of a reward. And it’s not only good for Tom. Just as a red card is the worst punishment for all of them, the purple is the best one. They’ll get to go karting or paintballing, or Tom and Bill will be able to sod off to a hotel in Berlin for a few days and shop and chill and do things that they’ve been dying to do for a while, and give Georg and Gustav peace and quiet.

And time for sex. That one’s always nice. They’ve always enjoyed sex and things like that together, and having the twins out of the house for a few days means they can _really_ get something going. Maybe even bring in a few good friends, too, or go to their place.

“Can I still earn purple?”

“Yes. You can always earn any one of them.” Georg watches as Tom picks up the cards from behind him, fans them out. He’s looking at them intently; probably trying to remember the rules of each one from the list that’s neatly written on a sheet of A4 on the wall of his room.

They tend to give the cards at the end of the day, assessing Tom’s behaviour across the whole time period, which is why earning a purple is hard. One slip up, one small backslide, and it drops him down to blue – which is still good, but it’s not quite gold medal standard. They consult together, if possible, to make sure they’re all on the same page, and a purple needs all three of them in agreement. He’s not earned one yet, but it’ll come. He just needs time. Punishments are given in the moment, whenever possible, saving the card for the end of the day, but sometimes, that’s just not possible. Like when they’re in public or in the middle of an interview or something like that – it’s hardly like they can hand over a red card and spank Tom mid conversation, can they?

That’s why they carry the cards around with them in pockets, handbags, or wallets – they can just hand one to Tom and let him make the decision to fight or to let it go.

“So shall we get on? Might as well start focusing on that purple.” Georg is under no illusions that Tom will earn a purple tomorrow; he never does manage to hit more than a blue, and more usually a yellow or green after a punishment card, because he’s still recovering his equilibrium. But they can aim high and encourage Tom to make it, even so.

“Uuuuurgh.” But Tom is agreeably getting to his feet, neatly sliding his bookmark into his borrowed novel to carry on with later. “Where are we going to start?”

“Office. You’re in there first, so might as well.” Tom’s got the nine am tutor slot and he rolls his eyes. Early mornings are not his friend.

“Bah. Let’s go.”

Georg laughs, replacing his own magazine on the stack to finish later. “You first.” Tom scrambles to his feet, his baggy jeans scuffing along the floor around his bare feet. Georg enjoys the strip of skin that appears at his waist where his jeans dip low and his t-shirt has ridden up, revealing those dimples in his spine where Georg so loves to kiss and touch. He reaches out, strokes across that line of smooth, warm flesh, and Tom nearly climbs the wall to avoid his hands.

“Perv.” Tom yanks his t-shirt down.

“March, Tom.” Georg grins, and Tom does, too.

“Yes, _Georg.”_

He’s a weird one, that’s true. But this is where Georg wants to be. He likes this. He enjoys it, and so does Tom. And Gustav, and Bill.

It’ll be a rough ride for all them, taking this further. Making it more official than it really is by taking it on tour, carving out rules that stretch longer than the vague deadline of the end of the year they set for this trial period.

There needs to be rules about tour, about what happens when they’re recording rather than just on down time. There needs to be rules about other partners for all of them, not just Tom.

Everybody needs to meet Chris and Medra, sometime in the next few years, as soon as everybody is old enough, at least.

It’ll be different.

This first red punishment has brought out a lot of issues, made them aware that things aren’t quite fitting together well, and some things will have to change. Bill will have to step it up more, Gustav dial it back; Georg needs to hold them all a bit tighter because he’s been letting everything kind of go when he shouldn’t. Tom needs to speak out more – express what he wants, what he needs, what he actually feels, rather than what he thinks they want to hear. That kind of thing.

Their relationship is focused on Tom at the moment – building him to a place where he doesn’t need the level of support he’s getting now. Right now, Georg, Bill and Gustav are scaffolding for him – building a support network around him as they help him to develop emotional maturity and mental understanding that comes with being an adult, because, left to his own devices, he won’t make it.

Or at least, it won’t come until it’s too late.

Their career is not one that’s good for developing those skills – if you don’t have them, then the lack is highlighted, revealed and ridiculed. It’s too fast to learn on the job, too. They’re constantly exposed to sex and drugs and alcohol - all the things that are Tom’s downfall when not in moderation and carefully controlled. If left to his own devices, Georg would bet on a year, maybe eighteen months, before Tom was either in court, in rehab, or worse. The ability to say _no,_ the ability to determine what’s _right_ and what’s easy, is vital in this industry, and Tom _has_ to learn. If you don’t have them, then it’s really seriously difficult to get them, but Georg is convinced they’ll get there.

They’ve brought out the big guns, after all.

This relationship is not intended to be a _let’s fix you up_ relationship because Georg knows that will only ever end in disaster. Tom is not a project to be fixed and cosseted and pushed into a particular shape of a person that Georg wants, or Bill, or Gustav. He won’t be perfect, and he can’t be made perfect. Georg has to accept Tom as he comes, when he comes, if he comes. Pun not intended.

But they can teach Tom things, help him make that transition into adulthood, because God knows he can’t do it alone. They can teach Tom restraint and politeness and good behaviour. They can help Tom deal with the need for sex and the desire for drugs, and the raging anger that comes with being a teenage boy with enough testosterone and sexual energy to fuel a bull elephant through mating season.

The aim is to help Tom stand on his own two feet as an independent, mature, and emotionally confident adult, not to leave him dependent on them for the rest of his life. It sounds absolutely fucking ridiculous to phrase is like that but that _is_ their end game scenario.

Or at least they can put him on the road towards it.

Gradually, once he gets it, starts learning and **growing** on his own, they can start stepping back, bringing the relationship to a more … not necessarily even keel, because there’s always going to be elements of imbalance when it comes to sex and love because that’s what works for them. But they can bring down the intensity a bit, stop making it so controlled and regulated with rules and lists and discussions. Hopefully, by that point, they won’t need it.

Tom isn’t stupid, and he’s not thick – Georg has always been aware of that, but the last few weeks have highlighted that to everybody even more. He’s very clever – scary smart, almost, when it comes to Maths and Art and politics. He’s got a strong liberal bent, but after being raised by Simone (who had lived with her sons in a _commune_ for three years when she had just divorced Jorg), Georg would expect nothing less. He’s funny and quick, and his capacity to learn is immense, and taking advantage of it is the best thing for Tom, but there are negatives.

Big ones. He’s impulsive, flighty, and exceptionally high energy. He’s ADHD material like Georg can’t believe; he’s amazed that none of the teachers have ever picked up on it, because five minutes with Tom and _he_ got it at thirteen. Tom can’t focus for shit, and Georg has lost count of the number of ticks and twitches that Tom’s developed in the few years they’ve known each other. The fact that Tom has dyslexia is another signal for that – he writes in _hieroglyphs,_ for God’s sake.

Georg is invested in digging deeper with that, but that’s a _very_ adult, mature conversation that he needs to have with Tom as someone who cares about him. Not someone who’s involved with him sexually – it’s not a light thing to bring up.

Tom is also… not cruel, per se, but he can be vindictive, and he doesn’t always think before he speaks, so his words and his behaviour hurts. His biggest issue is that he’s not emotionally mature, and Georg knows why.

It’s this life.

Tom has finished gathering up his armful of peanuts and books, and he looks at Georg. He’s impatient to do stuff, desperate to get on with doing _something_ other than just sitting.

“Really, Tom?”

“ _Yes.”_

It’ll always be a work in progress, something that’s always requiring tweaks and adaptation to make it work because that’s the nature of a relationship. Having four of them in said relationship just quadruples that level of maintenance that this relationship needs.

But that’s for tonight’s meeting, or tomorrow’s discussion with all of them.

“Kitchen, Tom.”

“Yes, Georg.”Today, Georg has no other plans than to wait for those last few hours to tick down with Tom, and enjoy them for all their worth. Sometimes, their life is just a little bit perfe _ct.  
_


End file.
